UK Badger cull ended - may have increased TB.

[SummerRain]

The Gloucestershire badger cull took place, has been stopped and failed to kill more than 39% off badgers, and that may well have increased TB.

Failed gloucestershire badger cull may have increased TB risk for cattle.

The extended Gloucestershire cull ended on Saturday, three weeks earlier than planned due to very low numbers of badgers being shot. Natural England revoked the extension licence, with the agreement of the culling company and the National Farmers Union (NFU), but licences permitting six-week culls over four years in Gloucestershire and Somerset remain in place.

"Culling low numbers of badgers, over a prolonged period, during these winter months, are all associated with increased TB," she said. "As Defra [Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs], Natural England, the NFU, and the farmers themselves consider how to proceed, they can bear in mind two important lessons learned from these pilot culls. First, because cull companies can't kill enough badgers, fast enough, the disease control benefits of this sort of culling are likely to be smaller than Defra estimated. Second, because free shooting didn't work and because there was massive public protest, the costs of culling are much higher than expected."

Woodroffe said the £1m spent on policing just the first six weeks of culling in Gloucestershire could have secured five years of volunteer-led badger vaccination over a similarly large area. "Vaccination by volunteers is cheaper than culling and it also builds bridges between farmers and wildlife lovers, instead of setting them at odds," she said.

So... should I complain about the money spent on this trial cull, the fact that all the evidence suggested that this was a bad idea in the first place, or the fact that many badgers have now been killed absolutely needlessly first?

I can only hope this means that future planned culls will be re-thought.

 

[Second Summer]

I can only hope this means that future planned culls will be re-thought.

We can only hope ...! What a complete waste of lives, effort and all that money I pay in taxes. With the wildlife habitat destruction caused by ever increasing human populations, it's almost surprising there are any wild animals left at all. Wouldn't the only sensible action be to try and protect what little is left?

 

[Moll Flanders]

the fact that all the evidence suggested that this was a bad idea in the first place

It makes me so angry.

 

[shyvas]

It makes me so angry.

I'm also angry.

 

[SummerRain]

We can only hope ...! What a complete waste of lives, effort and all that money I pay in taxes. With the wildlife habitat destruction caused by ever increasing human populations, it's almost surprising there are any wild animals left at all. Wouldn't the only sensible action be to try and protect what little is left?

Sometimes I think it's quite ironic that people in the UK are worried about the harming of wildlife in other countries, when we killed off all of ours years ago, and seem to resent all the "vermin" than have survived our best efforts to kill them.

 

[shyvas]

Sometimes I think it's quite ironic that people in the UK are worried about the harming of wildlife in other countries, when we killed off all of ours years ago, and seem to resent all the "vermin" than have survived our best efforts to kill them.

According to statistics there are only 300 000 badgers left in the UK :

http://www.britishwildlifecentre.co.uk/planyourvisit/animals/badger.html

 

[Second Summer]

According to statistics there are only 300 000 badgers left in the UK :

http://www.britishwildlifecentre.co.uk/planyourvisit/animals/badger.html

Somehow it doesn't feel right that there should be 200 people for each badger.

 

[shyvas]

Somehow it doesn't feel right that there should be 200 people for each badger.

Would you prefer it to be the other way around ?

 

[Pirate]

I like badgers but I'm not sure I'd like if they outnumbered us. I'm glad people are rethinking, its just a shame it happened after some badgers were killed.