Badger, Badger, Badger

[Mudbug]

The Badger culls are due to begin in the UK in June 2013, it?s now or never for the badgers!

Brian May has launched a petition so they can deliver 250,000 voices against the badger cull to ensure that the UK Government can?t ignore this any longer.

If you want to help please click here: http://teambadger.org/

Thanks for reading this.

[FloatingFatMan]

The cull is necessary as the current badger population is too high and is exceeding the resources of their habitat. It's not happening just for fun, you know. Badgers are a protected species in the UK so a cull only happens through necessity.

[spikey_richie]

The cull is necessary as the current badger population is too high and is exceeding the resources of their habitat. It's not happening just for fun, you know. Badgers are a protected species in the UK so a cull only happens through necessity.

And to halt the spread of TB.

[FloatingFatMan]

And to halt the spread of TB.

I'd forgotten about that part. Yeah.. That's pretty damned essential!

[DocM]

After looking it up yes, the cull is essential from both a wildlife management and the public health standpoints.

It always gets me how some of these armchair conservationists / environmentalists go knee-jerk negative on culls and hunts that are essential, even for the species being killed. Our deer hunr is essential becsuse their reproduction rate vastly exceeds their death rate from predation and natural causes. As a result there are more deer here than any time in the last 120 years - literally in the millions. Without a hunt to keep the population down the whole herd suffers food shortages & starvation in our cold winters. It's truly heartbreaking to see large numbers of dead and malnourished deer per square mile when the hunt fails to cull enough deer. Without the hunt it would be worse.

Hunts provide a deer population check, a great deal of economic activity, license fees support many DNR programs for all species including endangered ones, and the harvested deer are a very popular food source. Many hunters turn part of f their allotment (you can harvest >1 deer) to 3 charities that supply venison to food banks for the poor and homeless.

[FloatingFatMan]

^ We have a problem with deer too, but don't have much hunting to compensate... There's going to have to be a cull soon...

[Astra.Xtreme]

Crate them up and send them over here. We love those vicious animals. :)

[Mieky242]

The Badger population is not necessarily too high, they will increase in population as much as they can as long as resources and predation don't stop them (like any other animal). Culling them will also not necessarily slow or stop the disease and will just disrupt their normal territorial movements. Normally badgers are fairly confined in their movements, however a cull will open up new territories for remaining infected and non-infected badgers, which will lead to territorial expansion and greater movements of badgers which therefore increases spread of disease. Read more here http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/badgers-and-bovineTB (Also just so you know, The Wildlife Trusts are pro deer culling)

Not everyone opposed to the badger cull is an armchair conservationist, there are many good reasons not to proceed with the cull and to further explore using a vaccine to TB, not least of all because a cull will only ever be a temporary fix that will in all probability make matters worse in the future.

[Xilo]

Badger fur is great for brushes.

[n_K]

And to halt the spread of TB.

Hi,

Accredited scientific evidence and citations required.

Thanks.

[Noir Angel]

It's unfortunate but as far as I'm concerned as long as it's done humanely I am OK with it. It's much less painful to die from a bullet through the head than it would be to starve to death because you are overpopulated.

[spikey_richie]

Hi,

Accredited scientific evidence and citations required.

Thanks.

Hi,

Have you been living under a rock?

Thanks.

[n_K]

Hi,

Have you been living under a rock?

Thanks.

Hi,

So that means you know none then?

Enjoy your murder.

[CrashG]

No! Don't kill Badger

Oh, wait, they already did.

[Growled Member]

Maybe there isn't too many beaver, but too many people invading their space.

[DocM]

Space isn't the issue as generally badgers coexist pretty well around people. The problem is that they've become a disease vector for bovine TB, canine distemper, and sundry viruses that can hit livestock and less often pets. That's a whole other issue.

[Torolol]

some believe humans need to be culled too.

[DocM]

some believe humans need to be culled too.

When they themselves volunteer then perhaps they'll be seen as more than attention grabbing Nazi wanna-bes.

[spikey_richie]

Hi,

Accredited scientific evidence and citations required.

Thanks.

Here, not that you'll read them.

And from Defra:

What is the evidence for allowing culling of badgers in pilot areas?

The Defra badger cull policy is based on scientific evidence from the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT). Using the results of this trial (based on an average of 5 years? culling plus a 4-year post-cull period); culling over an area of 150km² could be expected to lead to an average 16% reduction in TB incidence in the local area. This figure was agreed by an independent panel of scientists at a meeting with Professor Bob Watson, then Defra?s Chief Scientific Adviser.

• Summary of key conclusions from this meeting
  
• Chief Scientist Ian Boyd and Chief Vet Nigel Gibbens explain the science behind the badger cull (Guardian)
  
• Randomised Badger Culling Trial
  

The results from the proactive culls in the RBCT suggest that the benefits of culling, ie reductions in incidence of TB in cattle in the culled area, may not be seen for 3-4 years after culling begins but could continue for at least 6 years after culling stops.

[n_K]

Here, not that you'll read them.

And from Defra:

Nice, so the first result is about boars so is irrelevent.

Next result;

'Here we present results from a large-scale field trial^{3, 4, 5} that indicate that localized badger culling not only fails to control but also seems to increase TB incidence in cattle.'

Oh that's funny. 'Our analysis shows that some measures of sociality may remain significantly disrupted for up to 8 years after culling. This may have epidemiological consequences because previous research has shown that even in a relatively undisturbed badger population, movements between groups are associated with increases in the incidence of Mycobacterium bovis infection. This is consistent with the results from a large-scale field trial, which demonstrated decreased benefits of culling at the edges of culled areas, and an increase in herd breakdown rates in neighbouring cattle.'

Next: 'We show that, as carried out in this experiment, culling reduces cattle TB incidence in the areas that are culled, but increases incidence in adjoining areas. These findings are biologically consistent with previous studies^{2, 3, 4, 5} but will present challenges for policy development.'

The next one is about analysis and doesn't include the findings in the abstract.

Not bad, you tried to back up your reasons but failed to do so with all evidence pointing in the opposite direction of your opinion.

[Arachno 1D]

The material evidence in support of the cull in regard to TB transfer to cattle is wildly superficial and open to debate, as for over population like most animals they can only survive if sufficient material resources exist locally to sustain their ecosystem.You cannot base a thesis on one set of results, it would be like invading a country just because of one mans word.

There is medication that can be applied to bovines to reduce the incidence of TB so why is this action not taken first?

[Ice_Blue]

Maybe there isn't too many beaver, but too many people invading their space.

Badger.

Got beaver on your mind? :D

[kurupy]

I couldn't resist

[DocM]

>

There is medication that can be applied to bovines to reduce the incidence of TB so why is this action not taken first?

Because as other prophylactic uses of medication vs bacteria has shown, it tends to produce resistant strains - superbugs - which current meds do not work on. Not smart.

Better to restrict the potential disease vectors. In bovine TB that includes badgers. In HIV it's wearing condoms. Until you can convince the badgers to run around in little HAZMAT suits....

[Arachno 1D]

Strange response given humans use the same method in infants to reduce the incidence of say measles and again the proof against badgers is biased propoganda.