The killing badgers might reduce bTB if it were continuous and over a large area. I get the feeling it's not even a remotely cost effective method of controlling the disease. Even if it were, fundamentally, it is not acceptable to me to eliminate a native species from large areas of Britain for this reason.
We have to find other ways to deal with this problem. It speaks volumes that the NFU, FUW, Welsh Assembly etc and other pro-cull advocates don't seem concerned enough about bTB to be lobbying for implementation of the National Audit Office recommendations that could reduce the impacts of this disease in a cost-effective manner. They should be marching on DEFRA to make changes to Animal Health policy & practices shouldn't they? Instead they just want to focus attention on Badgers.
The health of livestock and honeybees in England This was published a year ago. What has been done to meet these recommendations? I suspect the answer is not much.
Furthermore, repeating the badger cull trials in Wales is completely pointless. At best, it will tell us nothing new, at worst it will tell us nothing.
Quote:
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Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results
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Albert Einstein