Badger cull to go ahead!?

[Digit]

That in some areas, BTb actually increased after the Badgers were 'removed'.


Please see eeyore's post Adam and then note what I said about any such cull would need to be continuous, as it was before the current protection when both Badger numbers and infection rates were much lower than current.

Roy.

[DorsetDunk]

well after after reading more on the subject my conclusion is this

why is not called Meles Tb scientifically if badgers are the main carriers ?
No its called Bovine tb for a good reason
because transmission is 99-100% cow to cow and the badgers and deer etc are foraging on pasture already infected by the cattle

intensive dairying is the True hidden reservoir of bovine tb, why is this not detected because the skin test is only 80% effective. it is the prolonged contact in yards and barns and movement of undetected carriers within the climate related hot spots not the brief nightly visits of badgers wandering across pastures

cattle don't graze on cow pats do they ?
badgers latrines are not usually situated on open fields are they ?
poor brock is just being used as a scapegoat because a higher percentage of cattle are effected by bovine tb in climate related hotspots than the rest of the country and the farmers will just not except that intensive farming can not be as productive as it is in other regions because of this

friends and family have already told me they will boycott farm produce from the south west nor will they choose to holiday in those areas as they could not bare the thought of hearing shooting at night if the cull was in affect, if this proves to be the general reaction then the wider effects of the cull could very well damage the trade and tourism for the south west

to go out and shoot badgers whilst knowing full well 80% are not even infected is a crime against nature

So it is a resounding NO CULL from me along with Sir David Attenborough

[Digit]

Oh dear! Bovine TB is so called 'co' Koch and his co workers were trying to trace the sources of TB infection with the urban poor in the UK. They never got near Badgers and other wild life.
As I pointed out earlier you do not have to visit Egypt the contract West Nile Fever, the names come from the point of identification, nothing more!

friends and family have already told me they will boycott farm produce from the south west nor

That'll be a good trick! How do they intend going about that then?

not even infected is a crime against nature

So let's hear a kind word for Rats and Mice then as we kill them for even less reasons don't we?
I wonder how much of this is based on the cuddly bunny syndrome, would people be up in arms if Brock looked like a three foot long Rat?

Roy.

[nikolai_avenger]

[quote=Digit;801706]I wonder how much of this is based on the cuddly bunny syndrome, would people be up in arms if Brock looked like a three foot long Rat?
QUOTE]

Me for one!

[Digit]

I reckon we'd be a very small minority there my friend.

Roy.

[STYRBJORN]

There is no BTB in Scotland. Vaccination + careful husbandry have eliminated it. But Scotch beef fetches premium prices, so expensive methods of control are acceptable. It all comes down to MONEY. What a surprise. Not.

Cynic? Me? Aziff.

[Digit]

Cynic?

Or realist like myself, unfortunately, but not unnaturally, people do not take kindly to having their bubbles burst or their pet hobby horse put out to grass.

Roy.

[Hobjob]

Originally Posted by Digit

[b]A fact that was established by the Krebs trial some years ago.
One of the problems with people's understanding of BTB is the name.
Roy.

Originally Posted by Digit

But in disagreement with Lord Kreb's panel which found in support of culling.

Roy.

Originally Posted by Digit

Sorry but I take issue with that. Many local voters have voted in AM voting according to whether they support or do not support and not all farmers are in support locally. Also to imply that those of us who support a cull are in favour of such 'field sports' as badger digging is to me offensive. I would also point out the best scientific opinion etc as used by you would appear to ignore Krebs.

Roy.

Originally Posted by Digit

Why did it fail the last time there was a cull

Where/when?

it not proven the badgers are responsible for the spread.

Have you read Krebs, King, DEFRA at all? Can you explain the fall within the cull area of the Krebs trial in a way that exonerates Badgers please?

I also asked you if you
Roy.

I'm getting confused.
I have not read around the subject all that much
But

Is this the same Krebs as
"But leading experts have spoken out against the plans. Oxford academic and
zoologist Lord John Krebs led a government inquiry into the link between
badgers and cow tuberculosis. He says of plans to shoot badgers: "I can't
understand how anybody who's looked at the science would say this is a good idea.""

Lord Krebs speaking on Channel 4 News on Tues 19th July -
Catch up - Channel 4 News

[Adam Cheeseman]

I'm no bunny hugger. I like rats and pretty much everything else. I just don't think the 'proof' being proferred in favour of a cull is conclusive and definitive enough, particularly when many studies have shown that a cull wouldn't be effective and that what is proposed is just going over old ground.
It's clear that badgers aren't the only carriers of the disease. Could it not be a case of the most obvious carrier being made an easy target, bit like magpies and songbirds.

Cheers,

Dr. Cheeseman

[nikolai_avenger]

Hello Roy

From an on-the-fence perspective such as mine, it seems there have been a lot of informed posts on this thread and it has made good reading.

I do though think it's a bit unfair to bring the old bunny hugging thing into play in the event that someone disagrees with you. I reckon most people who are still awake and reading this thread have got a bit more nous than to be all "cute fwuffy bunnies" about this. By the same reasoning one could arrive at the conclusion that you just plain ole don't like badgers.

Cheers. Nik.