Badgers > Culling ?

[fairywishes]

Is this a good idea and will it benefit the farmers / cattle ?

Or is it an animal witch hunt ???

Do you think city bods ( like me for eg ) should be allowed a say on what goes on in rural areas , when we dont see the effects on farmers lives etc ?


ps : Incase you have not heard ( on BBC ) talking about farmers blaming badgers for the spread of TB in their cattle.
Aparently its gone on for 20 years and is now worse and they have called for a cull.

Animal rights campaigners are saying due to evidence gathered from the USA , a cull would make the spread of TB worse .

[dragonmist]

The badgers certainly catch bovine TB. That isn't in dispute. But it is bovine TB. The farmers would rather cull the badgers than clean up their own act. In the past cattle were regularly tested for bovine TB to stop children from contracting TB from infected milk. Bovine TB, like it's human counterpart, was almost completely eradicted. Farmers had small herds of perhaps 10 to 20 cows. A sick animal was easy to spot as he walked through the field. Now they have herds of 40 to 50 animals. Cross infection is easy with large herds. The farmers ride round on quad bikes giving the cows a cursory lookover. If it stands up or gets out of the way, that's good enough for many of them. I gather routine TT testing does not occur any more. There has never been any proof that badgers pass the disease on to healthy cattle. It's easier to blame a dumb animal for infecting their cattle than admit that they don't look after their animals properly. Farming friends have told me that bovine TB is extremely rare in organic herds.

[fairywishes]

Interesting beryl.

Thanks for the reply. ( hope your well ) x

Initially i thought, WTH ... Oh lets just mass exterminate cus they dont apeal to you and your PRESUMING that they are the reason the cattle are contracting TB.

After i listened though, i became more 50 / 50 and now i can see both sides. I would not want to be the one making the final decission.

Of course the asking for MASS KILLING of any animal has to be seen as a bit alarmist But, im not a farmer, i dont know what this means for them. etc ...

[Pete27]

i wonder what bodger will have to say about this

[fairywishes]

lmao ... nutter!

He would prob say MASHED POTATO !!!

[Pete27]

lmao ... nutter!

He would prob say MASHED POTATO !!!

oh stoppit ur making me hungry!

would mashed potato solve the problem do you think?

[fairywishes]

oh stoppit ur making me hungry!

would mashed potato solve the problem do you think?

Oh its bound to!

HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP! Nutter on the loose.

[Pete27]

Oh its bound to!

HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP! Nutter on the loose.

mashed potato can solve many problems u know it can help in pretty much ANY scenario.... this one for instance... the cows could be kept in a field of mashed potato then the badgers wouldnt be able to get near them because they are too small and would ne engulfed in it... unless they happen to eat it in which case they could in theory eat their way to the cows


my god i didnt know there was a nutter on the loose keep him away from me

[Pete27]

by the way if anyone is interested my new book has just hit the shelves... its called 'how to ruin a perfectly good serious discussion'

[fairywishes]

SUREAL SHI*

lmaro