Absolutely compelling little film on the badger cull....

You're not really in possession of the facts mate. The badger was a protected species, it contracted bTB from cattle. bTB is prevalent in cattle due to excessive and illegal moving and re-branding of herds and poor bio-security standards on farms and markets. Also the excessive fast restocking of the national herd following foot and mouth in 2001. The badger is an innocent bystander in all this, certainly not vermin. The politics run deep and it would take me the rest of the day to spell it out.

Dominic Dyer is a scientist who has worked in various government departments and all over the agriculture and food industry at a very high level and is currently chief advisor at Care For the Wild Intl. He is generally understood to the leading expert on the industry and it's relationship with indigenous wildlife. He is a wildlife nut, but extremely pragmatic about the whole subject. His speech at Whitney is posted above, I'll be going to see him speak again in Brighton on Sunday. In half hour you can become reasonably informed on the general issues surrounding the cull, don't be put off because it also happens to be one of the best and most riveting pieces of public speaking you are likely to hear for a while. While everything Defra, Natural England and the NFU has been ripped to pieces by experts, not one word of Dominic's speech has been disputed. Not even the Tories can wriggle out of the facts of this.

I really recommend watching it.

 

'This controversial measure has been partly credited for the 50% reduction in TB incidence in Ireland since 2000.'

It's ******** mate. Ireland had virtually ineffectual bio-security laws and was illegally moving cattle with zero monitoring. This has been severely tightened over the last 10 years. In England also which explains the current levels of bTB in cattle were at their lowest for 6 years before a single badger had been culled, legally at least. This can only be down to improved bio-security, as in Ireland.

Obviously, this then becomes a legal issue for farmers who have ignored the regulations. The blame must be placed somewhere else. Can you see the picture emerging. In the 2008 badger cull, only 1.1% of 11,000 badgers culled were found to carry bTB. Contracted from cattle. Another fact in all this is that the Chinese are refusing to accept milk and other products from cattle that have been vaccinated. I told you it was political and murky at that.

 

If its so successful why does the article finish with this statement;

Meanwhile, badger vaccination trials are under way in several Irish counties, involving the vaccination of hundreds of badgers with the BCG vaccine over three to four years.

It is hoped that successful field trials will lead to the implementation of a vaccination strategy as part of the national TB control programme.

 

I didn't mean to sound patronising, sorry. But your comments are typical of those who have only skimmed the surface of this subject. The facts are there in Dominic's speech. Yes, a wildlife champion and as I said a very pragmatic expert. Natural England's chief vet who okayed the culls is literally the last man standing of the country's experts in favour of the cull. I've posted above about the bTB situation in Ireland. Even Paterson has stopped trying to use that as an argument.

Don't be offended, it is a subject I've followed for a long time.

 

The argument of the validity of the badger cull in relation to food production is discussed very sensibly here. There are answers to this debate, Cameron and farmers don't want to hear them.

http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/opinion/...-scheme-for-cattle-and-badgers/350572.article

 

Wouldnt it be easier to innoculate the cattle instead of trying to innoculate the badger. Or would that be too expensive.

Surely if its a problem that in the long run is going to effect the rest of Europe, than the European commission should do something about it not the British Government.
ie make every cattle throughout Europe safe win jabs.

 

Correct Mr C the Irish farmers cleaned up their act. Owen Patterson is an ex Farmer so he will back the farmers. That's why he gave the culling to the NFU. The vaccination of Badgers can be done by burying it in a food under the ground. The badgers then unearth it and eat it how does that cost £642 per badger