Badger cull

[greg]

This is a dated by a few days.............

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35121632

This part especially ...........

"I'm pleased to say more than half of the country is on track to be officially free of the disease by the end of this parliament thanks to the strategy we put in place.

' Dear Ms Truss, if this happens, I'll eat my hat ................'

[Jacksparrow]

The problem with things like the Badger cull is deciding who's statistics you want to believe. The government are desperate to produce figures that suggest the cost of the cull has been money well spent while those who oppose the cull whatever the cost are anxious that culling is not seen as an answer to bovine TB as they don't want the practice to be spread to other regions. I want to see an analysis by a person or group of persons who have no axe to grind but they may be hard to find. I don't want to see hundreds of Badgers killed if it makes no difference to bovine TB while on the other hand a simple taxpayer like me does not want to see thousands of cattle slaughtered when the cause is preventable and I have to pay the compensation. I really am sat right on the fence on this issue and will remain so until I hear facts(not statistics) that will convince me one way or another.

[JooMoo]

I don't understand this country's stance on Badgers.
A few years ago I was involved in a local construction project whereby we had to build 2 badger crossings along a major bypass.
So why were the badgers in this area protected while ones in other areas are culled?

[Jacksparrow]

I don't understand this country's stance on Badgers.
A few years ago I was involved in a local construction project whereby we had to build 2 badger crossings along a major bypass.
So why were the badgers in this area protected while ones in other areas are culled?

As I understand the situation ALL Badgers are protected but the law has a sub paragraph somewhere which allows the government of the day to lift the protection in a controlled area if it is deemed necessary. The Badgers stand accused of spreading Bovine TB so the cull was authorised. I think it was in the 80s that Badgers were protected from hunting and their Setts were protected from disturbance. They had been the target of hunting in the countryside for hundreds of years which had kept their numbers under control but it is argued by some that this protection has worked so well they are becoming a nuisance. Badgers have no natural enemies in the wild so their burgeoning population can be viewed as a threat to other wildlife. They are omnivorous and don't mind travelling to find food. Ground nesting birds are particularly threatened and the beloved Hedgehog has also been suffering at the Badger's claws. This is why I am sat on the fence about the cull, while it is bad news when innocent animals get killed just for being who they are but can we sit back and watch while other species are wiped out by another. There are many pressures on wildlife and I may have been guilty of taking a simple view but the deeper you go the more difficult it is too see a simple answer if indeed there is one.

[Placido]

Well, you've said it, Jacksparrow. There just isn't a simple view. Like so much of Nature everything's interwoven, inter-dependent and inter my conscience.
Thing is, if it has to be done then it should be done for the correct reasons and I'm not completely certain that it is.

[Jacksparrow]

Well, you've said it, Jacksparrow. There just isn't a simple view. Like so much of Nature everything's interwoven, inter-dependent and inter my conscience.
Thing is, if it has to be done then it should be done for the correct reasons and I'm not completely certain that it is.

I'm not sure some people would accept a cull whatever the reason. Absolute proof of any misdeeds by Badgers is hard to come by and even if there were it could be claimed there were ways of dealing with the problem other than culling.

[greg]

The original study ( the Krebs report ) in the 90's studied the effects of culling and concluded that culling was not effective. I think the latest culls are just a fudge by the government to keep the farming community happy.
Vaccination seems to be the best option, but it's not the cheapest option.

[Willpar]

Greg, vaccination of badgers may well come in the future. But with a lower population. That way it would be more manageable. But at the moment culling don't seem to suggest that culling is cheaper. Figures put about by media and animal welfare groups suggest that culling is costing up to £4000 per animal. Vaccination suggest up to £800 per animal. I don't know if that includes cost. But if say two thirds of badgers were culled, then vaccination on the whole would be a whole lot cheaper.

[greg]

The Badger has to be vaccinated each year, so the figure is a bit higher than that. Here's a piece from the tbfree website ........

You need to cage-trap the badgers to vaccinate them. And you have to it annually for period of at least five years.

The process is costly and needs to be carried out by people who have been on accredited courses. Every trap has to be visited early in the morning, every day.

The Welsh Assembly Government is carrying out a five-year badger vaccination programme in the Pembrokehsire hotspot area.

During the first two years of the programme a total of 2,776 badgers were vaccinated at a total cost of £1,869,784 - an average of roughly £673 per badger. This could mean that over the five-year period of the programme vaccination could cost around £3,365 per vaccinated badger .

There are question marks over the efficacy of the vaccine, so much more research has to be done to provide a successful vaccine. This is where the real costs come in.