Hi all.
There, as a lot of you may know, is a huge amount of contraversy surrounding the culling of Badgers here in the UK.
Now I am not qualified to render in depth analysis of the situation, for that I will direct you to the people who really do and deal with these issues on a daily basis and can put forward the arguments from a truly valid viewpoint. I will however offer up some information and provide you with resources to form your own opinions. I have, in the past had my opinions dismissed as those of someone who want’s to save Badger “simply because they are cute“. Now of course they are cute, but this really has nothing to do with the core issues here.
Firstly, as it stands the government/Defra as well as the Farmer’s Unions are intent on going ahead with the culls. Their reasoning is that the blight of Bovine TB is effecting Farmer’s stock. However, the arguments for the culling of Badgers as an effective measure to curb the spread of TB to cattle is questionable. For example the RSPCA on their blog say…
“We were devastated that, following years of contentious debate, the government confirmed that it will go ahead with a pilot badger cull in two areas of England in 2012.”
Now no one is suggesting that TB isn’t a major concern that need addressing. It most definitely does. However simple slaughtering Badgers has yet to be proven to be a fully effective cure to the problem, in fact the opposite. Farmers needs certainly need addressing and to dismiss them is just as wrong as the opposing view. However a balanced, open discussion on the subject needs to take place without old values being trodden into the ground over and over again.
The two areas in question in England are West Somerset/Taunton Deane and in the Forest of Dean/Tewkesbury area. If you live in or near either of these areas the RSPCA is in need of you help and you can get in touch on campaigns@rspca.org.uk
You can (and please do) find out more at the following links. These people are working tirelessly so please give them a little of your time and if you are in a position to help get in touch with them
- http://pembrokeshireagainstthecull.org.uk/
- Pembrookshire Against The Cull is a group of landowners, farmers and residents living in the proposed badger cull area.
- 38 Degrees petition
- Sign up to this to voice your opposition
- RSPCA Badger Campain facts
- And of course the Badger Trust
Comments 2
Hi Richard,
I hope you and readers of your blog may find the work of our team of interest. We have a specialist team at Brock Vaccination, who trap and vaccinate badgers against bTB. Many of us have been vaccinating badgers for the past two years on the government led Badger Vaccine Deployment Project (BVDP). We have formed Brock Vaccination as we are committed to ensuring farmers/other landowners could access this service, and to ensure vaccination is carried out by highly skilled and experienced fieldsmen (as this will be critical to the success of any badger vaccination programme).
Badger vaccination is not a ‘quick fix’ solution, nor will it successfully control this disease without employing other methods. However, for many farmers, it should act to address the disease dynamics of their land for the long term, reducing the transmission risk from badgers to cattle.
We are working very hard to ensure farmers across the UK are aware badger vaccination is a practical option that they can choose to undertake now.
We have a website http://www.brockvaccination.co.uk that has more information on our team and the work we do.
All the best
Lucy Borde
Hi Lucy, thanks for commenting!
I shall visit your site shortly.
I like the common sense approach you seem to be taking, not stating that it is a quick fix or the only way forward. Very good!
Rich.