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Posted: 23-03-2011 09:53 Post subject: Badger Cull

Wales badger cull: Queen's Brian May plea ahead of vote

Members of the Welsh assembly are to vote on whether to permit a badger cull to stop the spread of bovine TB.
Anti-cull campaigner and Queen star Brian May, who wrote to AMs on the eve of the debate, plans to attend.
The debate centres on a legislative order that would allow a cull in north Pembrokeshire, and parts of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire.

The issue was revived by rural affairs minister Elin Jones after an earlier court battle won by the Badger Trust.
Ms Jones said on 9 March she had decided to push ahead with the move after fully considering the evidence.

She also announced new controls to deal with TB in non-bovines, which include camelids - such as llamas and alpacas - goats and deer. Like cattle, they will be slaughtered if found to be infected by TB after tests.
She said her decision was based on "substantial scientific evidence".

But in an open letter to AMs, May insisted the cull would not be effective against the spread of the disease in cattle.
Describing himself as "a concerned member of the British public, whose primary profession happens to be playing rock music," he referred to the cull as an "inhuman act of vandalism" against wild animals.
He said: "Everybody, and I mean everybody, who has studied the evidence, knows that (a cull) cannot work, and that the only true way to eliminate this disease is through better screening and movement controls in cattle farming.

He said for the past two years, the incidence of bovine TB had "fallen dramatically" with the tightening of cattle-based controls within the farming industry.
"The slaughter of badgers cannot prove anything - all it will do is appease the farmers in the short term, who understandably, perhaps, 'want to see something done'".

Wednesday's vote has been tabled by four AMs who are opposed to the cull.
One of them is Liberal Democrat AM for South Wales West, Peter Black, who also said he did not believe a cull would reduce TB cases in cattle.
He told BBC Wales: "Myself and a number of AMs have seen evidence to suggest culling will actually increase the instances of TB inside the culling area and will have very little effect in the long term in reducing TB.

"We are all sympathetic with the farmers, we know this has to be tackled, but we believe a far more humane and rational way to do this, and cheaper as it happens, is to use vaccinations in cattle and badgers as a method in particular as a way of controlling TB in the long-term."

But Stephen James, deputy president of the NFU Cymru, argued that vaccination was not a viable option in the intensive action area (IAA) in west Wales.
"Vaccination prevents disease, it does not cure it," he said. "We know that there is a significant reservoir of disease within the badger population of the IAA."

Labour and Plaid Cymru pledged to deal with bovine TB in the coalition deal they struck after the 2007 assembly election.
The latest order comes ahead of the next assembly elections on 5 May.
Some AMs previously tried - and failed - in a similar bid to halt the previous badger cull.

Wednesday's Senedd vote is the same process, played out for a second time with a re-drafted order.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-12825074

I'm with Brian May on this. (Queen guitarist and astrophyicist - what's not to like! Cool

)

As for "Vaccination prevents disease, it does not cure it": culling every living creature that has (or might have) TB does cure it? Perhaps we should drop an atomic bomb on west Wales - that would cure TB, and everthing else too! Twisted Evil

NB: That is just a colourful piece of rhetoric - I actually like west Wales. Cool

Posted: 23-03-2011 15:44 Post subject:

Cull farmers not badgers!

Posted: 01-04-2011 12:12 Post subject:

Farmers accused of cheating on TB slaughter rule by swapping cattle tags
Defra plans DNA tests for TB-positive cattle after farmers 'disguised affected cows' identity to avoid sending them to abattoir
James Meikle guardian.co.uk, Thursday 31 March 2011 18.08 BST

Farmers in England face DNA checks on their cattle to prevent illegal swapping of their animals' identities, an action the government says increases the risk of TB spreading to other herds and wildlife.

The environment department, Defra, said evidence was emerging that some cattle farmers in the south-west and Midlands could have been changing cattle ear tags to prevent TB-positive animals being sent to slaughter.
It is alleged that tag-switching has allowed farmers to send less productive cows to the abattoir in place of TB affected cattle.
A spokesman said three cases were already on their way to prosecution and investigations were continuing.

Cattle carry ear tags so that authorities can track their movement across the country, but from mid-April any that test positive for bovine TB will also have a DNA sample taken which will be retained by the government agency Animal Health. These samples will be cross-checked at random, or, where fraud is suspected, against the DNA of animals sent to slaughter.

The agriculture minister, Jim Paice, said: "I am absolutely appalled any farmer would deliberately break the law in this way. The vast majority of farmers with TB in their herds are doing the right thing, and it's reprehensible that anyone should be trying to get around the tough measures helping to control TB in cattle. Anyone doing this sort of thing will be caught and have the book thrown at them.
"We are introducing this extra safeguard to minimise spread of this devastating disease to other herds and wildlife."

The alleged evidence of fraud has emerged from an investigation instigated by Gloucestershire trading standards officers who reviewed TB cattle sent to two slaughterhouses. Investigations there and at slaughterhouses in the south-west and Midlands are continuing.

People convicted of such offences face fines of up to £5,000 and six months' imprisonment under orders to prevent spread of TB, or 10 years' jail and unlimited fines if prosecuted for fraud.

In 2010, about 6,000 of the 57,000 registered cattle herds in England were under TB restrictions. The new DNA measures come as controversial culls of badgers are threatened in parts of England and Wales as a means of trying to stop cattle contact with the wild animal, which is said by some observers to be an important factor in the spread of bovine TB.

Harvey Locke, president of the British Veterinary Association, said: "This fraudulent activity by a small number of farmers is shocking. Worryingly, it puts the national TB eradication strategies at risk, and urgent action is required to prevent it happening in the future."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/31/farmers-cheating-tb-swap-tags

From Farming Today on R4:

Posted: 01-04-2011 13:30 Post subject:

Farmers are always swapping cattle tags in Ireland. They spread diseases that way and then then blame the badgers.

I say badger the boggers!

Posted: 14-04-2011 10:27 Post subject:

Shooting badgers to be legal under plans for 'big society cull'
Tories say move will help farmers tackle bovine TB but police warn of illegal badger persecution
Allegra Stratton, political correspondent guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 13 April 2011

The row over badger culling has erupted again, with Labour describing government plans to allow farmers to shoot the animals on their land as the "big society badger cull".

The government has yet to respond publicly to a Defra consultation on proposals for a cull in England, but ministers have given a heavy steer that they will approve plans to allow groups of volunteers to organise their own shooting expeditions to kill badgers in affected areas, after applying for an appropriate firearms licence. The Tory minister in charge, Jim Paice, has described the culls as "free shooting".

Theoretically, these culls could begin as early as this summer. Labour highlighted police warnings of the danger of badger hunts in areas with large numbers of the animals in the southwest – areas that also happen to be popular tourist destinations.

In a "strategic assessment" of the plans submitted to Defra, the National Wildlife Crime Unit – a British national police unit – has raised concerns about how free shooting would be organised. In its latest assessment of the proposed cull, it says: "There is a very real danger of illegal badger persecution being carried out under the pretext of culling activity."

It goes on: "Devon and Cornwall were identified as hotspot areas for bovine TB earlier in the year and there is concern that political acceptance of this method may see farmers managing the problem themselves without obtaining a licence."

Tessa Jowell, the shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, said: "I don't believe that many of us would be comfortable with the idea of a 'big society badger cull', with volunteers licensed to roam the countryside carrying shotguns. I am not sure what it does to promote tourism in Britain or encourage people to visit the countryside."

The Tories are committed to culling badgers in an attempt to tackle bovine TB, which is having a significant impact on the cattle farming industry in some parts of the country.
Last year government figures showed 25,000 cattle were slaughtered because of the disease and this cost the taxpayer more than £63m in England alone.

Badgers are a protected species and it is illegal to kill them, with a few exceptions. The government's proposals would deregulate this, and would allow farmers to kill badgers themselves as long as they had a firearms licence.

A government source said: "No decision has yet been made. The announcement will be made later in the year after the local elections. The consultation was very much about farmers forging a group and working in partnership across the appropriate area."

In September, launching the consultation, Paice said: "As a countryman my view is that free shooting would, in most cases, be by far the most effective option."
He added: "There may be security issues but I am not talking about people just ranging around the countryside with a rifle. If you put a high seat over a sett you could kill most of them fairly quickly.

"I have looked carefully at the potential for using badger vaccination. Based on veterinary advice and the available scientific evidence, the government's assessment is that vaccination on its own will not reduce disease as quickly as culling."

etc...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/13/badger-cull-bovine-tb

Posted: 20-04-2011 07:18 Post subject:

Badger vaccine pilot planned by National Trust in Devon
By Richard Black, Environment correspondent, BBC News

The National Trust is to vaccinate badgers against TB this summer in a bid to curb the disease in cattle - the first UK landowner to do so.
The trust hopes its £320,000, four-year project on Devon's Killerton estate will make the case for vaccination as an alternative to culling.

Cattle (or bovine) tuberculosis costs the UK about £100m each year.
The government is set to approve badger culling in England soon, and the Welsh Assembly Government also plans a cull.

Research published last year showed the vaccine lowers infection in badgers.
Some cattle herds contract TB through contact with badgers, which carry the bacterium, although infection from other cattle is more significant.

Badger culling is a controversial option and although the trust is not opposed to it in principle, it is troubled by research showing it could do more harm than good - hence the vaccination scheme.

"This is a pilot project - it's not research, not a trial - we know the vaccine works, and we're going for it," said David Bullock, the trust's head of nature conservation.
"The driver is that we want to reduce the risk of bovine TB breakdowns in cattle herds belonging to our tenant farmers, 18 of whom are involved in this project - and we also want to see that the vaccine is considered nationwide."

Last December, scientists with the government-owned Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) published the results of a four-year field trial using an injectable TB vaccine.

It showed that vaccination reduced the incidence of TB in badgers by 74%, but did not look for any impact on infection levels in cattle.
The Labour government had planned five subsequent pilot vaccination projects, but the coalition reduced that to one, and Killerton was among the sites axed.

So at a cost of £80,000 per year, the National Trust is picking up the project, making use of the fact that some of the preliminary research (such as mapping out badger setts) has already been done.
Across about 20 sq km (8 sq miles) of the site, badgers will be lured into cages with bait and trapped.
Trained and licensed Fera staff will then deliver a dose of vaccine and release the badger, first marking it so it does not subsequently receive a second shot.
Dozens of setts have been identified, and the trust believes many hundreds of badgers will be vaccinated.

The Conservative Party made badger culling a plank of their general election campaign last year.

Supporters of badger vaccination say it could reduce the need for cattle testing, or culling The National Farmers' Union (NFU) has demanded it for a long time and after the election Agriculture Minister Jim Paice - a farmer himself - announced a public consultation into how it should be implemented in England.

While supporting the trust's decision to carry out the pilot programme, the NFU said vaccines formed part of the long-term solution but did not address the "desperate plight" that many farmers currently found themselves in.
"Current vaccination methods of injecting badgers is costly, and practically challenging with the benefits remaining unclear, and unproven," Melanie Hall, the NFU's regional director for South-West England told BBC News.
"As the vaccine is preventative, [it is] unlikely to impact positively on infected badgers."

Nationwide, nearly 35,000 cattle were slaughtered last year and there is no vaccine yet that can be used in cattle.
The government believes a cull would reduce disease incidence in cattle by 16% over nine years.

A spokesman for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affair (Defra) welcomed the National Trust's plans to run a vaccine pilot project.
He added: "There's no one solution to tackling TB, and the badger vaccine we developed is one of the tools we have available.
"We will be announcing a comprehensive and balanced TB Eradication Programme for England as soon as possible."

Ministers were expected to publish their plans to deal with bovine TB in the national herd in February; but amid turmoil over the disposal of nationally-owned forests, the announcement was postponed, and is now expected next month.

Meanwhile, the Welsh Assembly Government has announced new plans for a pilot cull in Pembrokeshire this year, after a legal ruling derailed similar plans last year.
Animal rights campaigners are to challenge the new plans in the courts.

Behind the issue lie conflicting interpretations of scientific evidence on the effectiveness of culling.
The Westminster and Cardiff governments and the NFU argue that culling can markedly reduce bovine TB incidence in cattle.
But the major UK investigation, the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (also called the Krebs trial), showed culling only produced a benefit if conducted rigorously and systematically over large areas, ideally with hard boundaries that badgers could not cross.

Otherwise, the social structure of badger groups broke down when some were killed, and the animals ranged further afield - infecting more cattle and leading to increased TB incidence.

"We're not against culling badgers if it's going to be effective in curbing bovine TB, but you can't apply the criteria everywhere that would make it effective," Mr Bullock told BBC News.
"Unless you have boundaries, you may have this effect where badgers move around and spread TB - we know from the science that this does happen."

Scientists who ran the Krebs trial have warned the government that its plan to allow shooting of badgers as they roam was likely to be less effective than the trap-and-shoot method deployed during the trial.
On that basis, they said, culling "risks increasing rather than reducing the incidence of cattle TB".

In the Irish Republic, culling has been practised for many years and does appear to have curbed bovine TB; but scientists involved with that programme say the disease will not be eradicated without vaccination.

The National Trust argues that vaccination could prove to be a more effective option than culling, in conjunction with tightened regulations designed to prevent cattle-to-cattle transmission.
This would also, of course, avoid killing badgers, which are a protected species under UK and EU laws.
Eventually, the aim is to have an oral vaccine that badgers would simply eat, avoiding any need for trapping; but that is thought to be five years away.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13121520

Posted: 05-05-2011 09:57 Post subject:

Brian May: my quest to save the badger
Queen guitarist Brian May is championing the rights of Britain's animals, from foxes to rats. Now he talks about his latest battle – on behalf of badgers
Patrick Barkham guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 4 May 2011 20.30 BST

The shrubbery rustles and shakes, then Brian May falls out of the rhododendrons, dusts himself down and stumbles towards five fox cubs at play in a clearing. In the landscaped gardens of his historic home in the Surrey hills, the Queen guitarist looks every inch the semi-retired rock star: huge curly hair on gangly frame, black trousers, immaculate white Pumas and a dangerously unbuttoned white shirt.

May has a plethora of projects to promote – every Queen album is being digitally remastered to celebrate the band's 40th anniversary this year; next month he will tour the country with Kerry Ellis, who starred in his musical We Will Rock You, and with whom he has written a new album; he has just played guitar on a new Lady Gaga track; and a documentary he has made about the history of 3D will be broadcast on Sky. But instead, the 63-year-old musician and astrophysicist is crooning softly to the fox cub he has clutched to his chest.

In the state-of-the-art animal rescue centre May has built in his garden, the guitarist behind Britain's biggest-selling album (Queen's Greatest Hits) is currently nursing back to health 140 hedgehogs and half-a-dozen abandoned fox cubs. He is also fast becoming the public face of the campaign to stop a cull of badgers proposed by the authorities to answer the concerns of farmers who are convinced the animals are infecting cattle with bovine TB.

Multimillionaire rock legends often dabble in fast cars, metal detecting or saving rainforests. Is May worried his anti-cull campaign will be dismissed as just another rock star hobby? "Hobby, hmmm," he murmurs, treating the word with a quiet disgust. "There aren't many people from rock music or entertainment who put the time in that I have . . . this has become a huge part of my life. I don't care what people say. I'm not doing it to make money. I'm not doing it because I want to be famous. Even if it was a 'hobby', why would I have that hobby? It could only be because I care about animals. This concerns us all. It's not just something that concerns farmers."

[...]

Long nights awake debating with badger lovers and haters on the web can get "depressing", he admits, especially when he is confronted with videos of animal cruelty. "It's a thing you have to fight, being depressed about it. It's very uncomfortable to see into the minds of people who are so full of violence. I find it very upsetting. It's changed my life.Some mornings, I find it hard to deal with." He pauses. "I get over it," he shrugs and laughs at himself for the first time.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/may/04/brian-may-champion-badger-welfare

Posted: 10-05-2011 09:10 Post subject:

BBC presenter told 'We will burn your children' after Countryfile investigation on badger culls
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:55 AM on 9th May 2011

Animal rights extremists threatened to burn the children of a BBC presenter after he investigated the issue of culling badgers, it has emerged.
Adam Henson presented an episode of the Countryfile programme looking at how to stop the spread of bovine TB, including a cull.
Afterwards he began receiving hate mail, he told a conference in Cornwall.

Speaking to 185 farmers and agricultural professionals, he said: 'There are some very nasty extremists about.
'I have had some serious hate letters from them - things like "we are going to burn your children".'
He said he thought the abuse was very unfair as he worked to BBC guidelines when presenting the programme on the controversial issue.

He said: 'These guidelines are very strict. So you will never hear me saying we should be culling badgers.
'My hands are completely tied on the issue. I cannot campaign for anything at all, simply report what is said on both sides.
'But this is a hugely emotive subject and we have to realise that there are extremists on both sides of the argument.'

Mr Henson, who farms in Gloucestershire, said farmers and conservation groups were 'at war' with each other when they should be working together to solve the problem.
He said: 'Badgers are fantastic animals to watch and can be a great asset and there should be middle ground between farming and conservationists on tackling the bovine TB problem.'

Mel Squires, regional director of the National Farmers' Union in the South West, told the conference at St Mellion, Cornwall, that bovine TB caused the death of 38,000 cattle last year.
She said: 'Behind the scenes we know the pressure is really on the Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, and the Farming Minister. But they are very concerned about public opinion.
'Now we are expecting the Government to take some really brave steps. They have said they are going to support us. If they don't they are going to leave the cattle industry in real distress.
'It's very difficult and incredibly complex, but Jim Paice has been a great support and an advocate for farmers.'
Mrs Squires urged her audience to contact their MPs and keep up the pressure for a solution to the TB scourge.

A proposed scheme to cull 70 per cent of all badgers in disease hotspots - three of them likely to be in the South West - is expected to be announced by the Government in the next few weeks.

----------------------------------------------------

A BLACK AND WHITE ISSUE

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is an infectious disease of cattle.
It is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis), which can also cause TB in many mammals, including badgers, deer, dogs and cats.
The area of England affected by bovine TB has grown from isolated pockets in the late 1980s to cover large areas of the West and South West of England.

A ten-year study led by Sir John Krebs concluded that badgers were a source of TB in cattle. It was found that cases of bovine TB fell inside cull zones, but rose in nearby farms.
However, the study concluded that a cull was not cost effective and called for vaccination of badgers.

In September 2010 the Government supported farmers over a cull of tens of thousands of the animals.
However, last month the National Trust announced it would fund a four-year vaccination scheme at a cost of £80,000 a year, in a bid to show it is a viable way of halting the spread of the disease

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1385025/BBC-presenter-told-We-burn-children-Countryfile-investigation-badger-culls.html

Posted: 10-05-2011 11:34 Post subject:

I still say cull farmers.

Posted: 20-05-2011 08:28 Post subject:

Farming minister says badger cull 'may not happen'

A badger cull to prevent the spread of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in cattle may not happen, the farming minister has told the BBC.

Badgers are blamed by many farmers for spreading the disease, resulting in thousands of cows being destroyed.
The government was set to approve badger culling in England soon.
However, in an interview for the Politics Show South West, minister Jim Paice said there was a "question-mark at this moment" over a cull.

The South West, west of England and Wales are among the areas worst-affected by TB in Britain.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said 6,863 cattle with TB were slaughtered in Devon in 2009, while in Cornwall the figure was 3,545.

The government was expected to announce in May whether a cull of badgers would go ahead, but it has been delayed.
Conservative Mr Paice said: "We will be making our announcements about it in the not-too-distant future once we're certain that, if we were to go ahead, we could resist the inevitable judicial review that would come."

When asked if he meant "if" as opposed to "when", Mr Paice replied: "There has to be a question-mark at this moment in time until we make a final decision and an announcement."

The National Farmers' Union approves of a cull, saying it was needed to help farming.
However, animal rights activists have criticised the proposals.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-13462393

Posted: 21-05-2011 17:31 Post subject:

Posted: 21-05-2011 17:55 Post subject:

Posted: 21-05-2011 18:18 Post subject:

rammonmercado. I take back what I said just it gets on my nerves when people do start bashing farmers. they are not all the same. you are right about the EU payments the bigger farmers cream a fortune off these just because they have thousands of acres. also again not all farms go around killing badgers most farms round here have aleast one set on their farms and they do guard them against the scum that thing it is fun too go and dig out a badger set then set dogs on to them. we have had barns burned down animals attacked and even yourselfs attacked because we have stopped these scum having their fun. And as for the facists well they are the biggest scum of all and if they are the master race something has gone wrong some where.

Posted: 21-05-2011 20:44 Post subject:

I am not bashing farmers here, both my grandfathers were dairy farmers, but I do know that where my folks live you see an awful lot of dead badgers by the side of the road. On closer inspection you will find a lot of them have been shot.

Posted: 21-05-2011 21:15 Post subject:

It's understandable that farmers are concerned about TB in their cattle, but their rush to blame badgers seems to be more a case of "We must do something!" than a scientific analysis of the evidence.

Some badgers carry bovine TB - but the link is more complicated than "Badgers give cattle TB" - where did the badgers get it in the first place?