So many dead Badgers

[Rob_D]

I have noticed alot more dead badgers by the side of the roads in the last two months. I hope (and still believe for now) they are all genuine roadkill and a sign of a much increased healthy population. There is very little cattle farming around here, so I would be saddened if arable farmers were allowing illegal killing.

Any farmer that is killing illegally is doing neither themselves nor their neighbours any favours. The ISG clearly concluded that limited/restricted/selective culls as advocated by so many people actually increased bovine TB incidence in surrrounding areas.

6. Reactive culling was included in the RBCT as the most likely future policy option, being both logistically and politically implementable. However, RBCT results showed that reactive culling increased, rather than reduced, the incidence of TB in cattle, making this unacceptable as a future policy option. The failure of reactive culling to control cattle TB appears to be an
outcome of complex badger ecology and behaviour linked to the social disturbance of badgers brought about by culling. These matters are fully discussed in the report, and may help to explain the failure of past badger culling policies to control cattle TB.

7. As expected, proactive culling reduced TB incidence in cattle in culled areas. However, as described in the report, this beneficial effect on cattle breakdowns was offset by an increased incidence of the disease in surrounding un-culled areas. As in reactive areas, this detrimental effect appears to reflect culling-induced changes in badger ecology and behaviour. We have given careful consideration to culling approaches that might be adopted that would overcome the detrimental effects of altered badger social behaviour, but we conclude that this is not achievable on any useful or practicable scale.

Making farmers aware of the risks of taking things into their own hands would seem to be vitally important in combatting the disease.

[Deerhunter]

Originally Posted by Rob_D

I have noticed alot more dead badgers by the side of the roads in the last two months. I hope (and still believe for now) they are all genuine roadkill and a sign of a much increased healthy population. There is very little cattle farming around here, so I would be saddened if arable farmers were allowing illegal killing.

Any farmer that is killing illegally is doing neither themselves nor their neighbours any favours. The ISG clearly concluded that limited/restricted/selective culls as advocated by so many people actually increased bovine TB incidence in surrrounding areas.



Making farmers aware of the risks of taking things into their own hands would seem to be vitally important in combatting the disease.

Good post Rob.

Do you think Badgers spread Btb to Cattle?

Or is it usually the other way round?

[Rob_D]

I'm sure badgers can spread TB to cattle, and I would see no reason why the reverse isn't possible (though you don't hear so much about that). Which way is more common in practice, I imagine its difficult to say. Measuring the incidence of TB in live wild badgers can't be very easy, and establishing the real numbers of interactions with cattle likewise challenging.

TB seems really difficult to deal with isn't it? Lots of animals carry TB with no symptoms and testing is not easy.

[Deerhunter]

Originally Posted by Rob_D

I'm sure badgers can spread TB to cattle, and I would see no reason why the reverse isn't possible (though you don't hear so much about that). Which way is more common in practice, I imagine its difficult to say. Measuring the incidence of TB in live wild badgers can't be very easy, and establishing the real numbers of interactions with cattle likewise challenging.

TB seems really difficult to deal with isn't it? Lots of animals carry TB with no symptoms and testing is not easy.

Exactly right Rob.

However testing is relatively easy on cattle, and when i get a reactor....................its no money, no honey !!!

Whats an Exmoor boy to do? (As Dollar once sang!)

[Wild-Woman]

According to Michael Clark's 'Badgers' book, the peak of road deaths to badgers happen in March.
I'm not suggesting this is the only reason of course, but this may simply because of their activites, it seems.

I have seen several dead badgers and they have all been at roadsides, but where I live there has been a huge amount or road building and re-alignments so it's possible that these poor animals are crossing new areas of road and restructured landscape in their territories.

It's sad to think that anyone is purposely killing them, especially by the despicable acts carried out by baiters, but I fear it happens all too frequently.

[JoulesH]

There are more badgers around so it is inevitable that more will get killed on roads. 10 years ago, we used to have 1 sett on our farm we now have 3. They have no natural predator and can't be controlled by man. 1 sett is 5 yards from the railway and all of our farm is within 1/2 mile of a busy and fast road. We run a closed herd (we do not buy any cattle in) to protect ourselves against buying in TB and none of our neighbours have cattle so our cattle could only catch it from wildlife. So far we are free, but there is very little in our county anyway, the badgers are considered clean. Most TB is spread by cattle to cattle transfer but yes it can be spread from badger to cattle and vice versa. Other than testing cattle before buying in, or running a closed herd, the main Defra advice to farmers is all about trying to keep badgers out of your cattle yards which is practically impossible. They do not deny the role of badgers in spreading the disease, only back away from culling them. I know of other closed herds like ours that have gone down with it. Our cattle breeding represents my husband's life's work and it is heartbreaking when you have to send them to slaughter and there is nothing you can do to stop them. Last year there was a massive increase in the number of cattle killed due to TB. They keep culling the cattle, but as one farmer put it 'trying to control TB without culling badgers is like trying to stop foot and mouth without mending the pipe at Pirbright'. I can fully understand why some farmers may resort to culling - they are absolutely desparate, in some cases after years of being 'shut down' due to TB.