To Cull or not to cull.

[hog]

Well Folks, looks like some licences have been granted to cull when the time arrises.
Whats the general consensus.
Cull Badgers
Vaccinate Badgers
Vaccinate cows.
Personally I stand in the Badger corner.

 

[JonathanD]

I'm in the badger corner too. But it's certainly not as black and white as each side suggests. Culling is not the answer though. For that to work, you'd have to eradicate the entire species, and that is not an option by any means, whichever side you are on.

 

[Retired Member southey]

cull the cows!!!

 

[Retired Member southey]

With Badgers I am like

but with cows I am like

so which would I rather be culled

 

[JonathanD]

Brilliant. They are an invasive species afterall.

 

[nuggets]

am all for natural selection !! I wonder what darwin would of made of all this ??

 

[Retired Member southey]

yup! a why is it invasive species are all so tasty?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[Joonsy]

the focus is always on badgers for spreading TB but i have often wondered if other species could be responsible, deer are known to have TB for instance, in Gloucestershire there are large numbers of wild deer could these too be responsible for spreading the disease as they can travel a considerable distance, are they sure it's the badgers and not other animals.

 

[mountainm]

For the cull to be even mildly effective you need to target 75% of badges in an area. Nobody knows how many badgers this is so its a pointless exercise.

 

[JonathanD]

Well, that's just it. It's not been definitively proven that badgers are the only and main source, just that they are carriers.

 

[JonathanD]

For the cull to be even mildly effective you need to target 75% of badges in an area. Nobody knows how many badgers this is so its a pointless exercise.

The cull that was tested down south showed that it was ineffective as other badgers soon moved into the territory. Now you could cull a healthy population and then allow an infected group to move in. Scientifically, it is a mess.

 

[mountainm]

The guy that wrote the study that the government use to back up the plan is against it. He even states it could be counter productive. But farmers in the main are Tory voters...

 

[bigroomboy]

as a scientist ive read the primary literature published in nature if i remember. the answer is black and white, culling badgers makes the situation worse! this action poor judgement and based purely on pressure from farmers who just want to see something done to help them with what is a big problem. this is just poor decision making by those at the top.

 

[JonathanD]

Absolutely. All the evidence points to a cull being counter productive and a huge expense for nothing.

 

[Joonsy]

innoculation has been talked about, it would not be feasible to innoculate the badger population being a wild species as some would obviously escape detection but with the cattle population being captive and of a known quantity why can't the cattle population itself be innoculated.

 

[JonathanD]

....... why can't the cattle population itself be innoculated.

EU nonsense and a lack of effective vaccine...

http://www.bovinetb.co.uk/article.php?article_id=23

 

[Teepee]

I'd like to see cattle vaccinated. However, this vaccine isn't available yet and I saw on Countryfile that it won't be 'til next year.

The cows are surely far easier to locate and control than all the wild badgers and I see it as the most efficient way of handling the problem.

My attitude is mostly selfish though, I just like seeing badgers when I'm out and don't own any cattle. If my livelyhood was affected and I was sending my cattle off for slaughter with TB, I would probably be far less pro-badger.

 

[munkiboi182]

yup! a why is it invasive species are all so tasty?

[

i had no idea pasties were an invasive species. i no longer have any need to feel any guilt when devouring an entire pack again

 

[Retired Member southey]

Its why the tamar canal was dug, to try and at least tax the influx of the yastey invaders.

 

[Joonsy]

EU nonsense and a lack of effective vaccine...

http://www.bovinetb.co.uk/article.php?article_id=23

in the opening paragraph of that statement in link it says the emphasis was to find an innoculation suitable for badgers, surely the emphasis should have been on the cattle with them being a captive stock, i'm no scientist it just seems common sense.