Badger 'cull' disaster
I AM very disappointed, as I am sure many of your readers are, that the Government is pressing ahead with the terminally misguided policy of killing badgers in England.
I cannot call it a 'cull' as the majority of those animals killed are likely to be healthy, as evidenced by a study from 2003 which found 80 per cent of those killed were actually TB free.
As it is, the decision to allow farmers to shoot badgers on their own land is disastrous in terms of welfare and potentially spreading the disease. This slaughter will happen away from the eyes of the public.
There will be no way to monitor welfare – and orphaned cubs are liable to die a long and lonely death.
Badgers are highly territorial and largely stay in one area. However, killing badgers will cause survivors to travel to new areas.
This could push TB onto farmers' land where no TB currently exists.
This was one of the major concerns of the largest study into TB.
Ten years of research found 'culling' badgers would have no meaningful impact on the spread of the disease.
How can this devastation of our natural wildlife be justified when TB infection is falling?
This wildlife massacre is not only cruel it is not needed. Scientists in Dublin have perfected an oral vaccine that is effective in tackling the disease in badgers.
This can be fed to them in bait left outside their setts – with no need to catch and inject them. These scientists say this is the only way to control TB in the badger population long term.
It would be a cost-effective and humane way of getting farmers involved.
Bovine TB is a disease of cattle – and cattle-to-cattle is the main vector. It is also worth pointing out that the number of cattle killed each year because of TB is dwarfed by those killed because of mastitis, lameness and infertility. Yet we never hear about those.
The decision to stamp out wildlife against the best scientific opinion smacks of misplaced allegiance to an industry that can't see the wood for the trees.
Justin Kerswell
Viva! campaigns manager
Got a view? Leave a comment below.
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