By Sophie MorrisWas anyone else as moved as I was by the plight of badgers in Thatcher's Britain when they read The Cold Moons by Aeron Clement? It's a sort of Watership Down for badgers, with undercurrents of Animal Farm.
Ok, I was eight years old at the time, but the idea we would purposefully hunt down and kill huge colonies of badgers didn't seem quite right. Admittedly at the time I did not know what the mysterious "TB" was either. I imagined it was an evil force of some sort, perhaps the Snow Queen from Narnia, not a disease the badgers could pass on to cattle.
Anyway... we're about to cull a load of badgers again, in Wales, and animal welfare groups (rather more informed than I was as I blubbed my way through The Cold Moons) are saying we shouldn't. Meanwhile the Welsh Assembly is going ahead with the cull, and Environment Secretary Hilary Benn needs to consider similar programmes in the UK.
Which is more important, protecting the cattle or the badgers? That really depends on whether a cull is effective in the first place. And so the experts have turned to "science" and in-depth surveys to support their claims.
A ten-year survey into culling by the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB says badger culling only worsens the problem. But David King, the government's chief scientific adviser, has called the report "unsound". There's nothing new about working up evidence to support what it is you want to do, but surely if there's any doubt killing large numbers of animals might not have the intended effect, we should consider giving it a miss?
you get TB in Deer, Squirrels and Rats why don't we just kill everything!!!
Posted by: Nick | Thursday, 10 April 2008 at 06:27 PM
Has anyone looked into the reasons there are so many badgers? Also, it is not really a case of "Cute little animals, they have rights too." but more "How will this effect the earth, humans and even cattle in the long run?". I seem to recall that Australia needed to reintroduce the Dingo to deal with the cats who were to deal with the rabbits...
Posted by: JB, NB, Canada | Thursday, 10 April 2008 at 10:15 PM
Any got a badger recipe then?
Maybe we can get Typhoid Mary to cook it for us... bon appetite.
Posted by: Imli | Friday, 11 April 2008 at 08:44 AM
Not moved at all. They're animals, not people. That's a novel you're reading, not a natural history book. They're not cute and cuddly, just like polar bears they've simply had a better PR job done on them. I'm not saying dig them out and slaughter them, but neither am I holding a Badger Benefit night to save them.
Posted by: Hobgoblin | Friday, 11 April 2008 at 08:45 AM
Humans get TB too...so by extension?
Posted by: Jamie | Friday, 11 April 2008 at 09:08 AM
Given the huge amount of evidence from the RSPCA and the government's own enquiry over several years that culling badgers doesn't help, and given DEFRA's own studies showing that the proper recording of cattle movement within herds, from pasture to pasture, and elsewhere is almost non-existent, I'd reckon that positioning it as Welfare Of Cattle vs Welfare Of Badgers is ludicrous.
This is about the NFU lobbying hard to have someone else be seen to do something, rather than forcing farmers to change their habits, test their herds, and record their movements in accordance with the law. There has been experimental badger cull after experimental badger cull over years, to no avail. Let's try an experimental adherence to the law and see what happens.
Posted by: Ka | Friday, 11 April 2008 at 09:11 AM
I agree with you Ka and with Hobgoblin. Badgers are, like polar bears, wild animals but who have had better PR. If culling badgers doesn't work then it doesn't work. Again, why are there so many of them? Perhaps spending the money to find this out would be a better use of resources and actually help both badgers and cattle. Sadly, what it comes down to is that the world eats beef burgers and not badger ones. And sadly, it is probably a lot cheaper to cull than to enforce testing. My concern is that by doing this what kind of damage are we all doing? Maybe by doing this repeatedly, they are coming back even stronger as they are needed in the grand scheme of life. And no Ka (even though I wouldn't hold a benefit for them either) they are not humans however, we probably need them for something that helps us thrive (insect control perhaps). Rodents and small animals do a lot of "cleaning work" above and below ground which helps everyone live. If they are reduced, what new threat would cattle or even humans face?
Posted by: JB, NB, Canada | Friday, 11 April 2008 at 04:25 PM
I recently returned from holiday on the Isle of Man where I contacted the Farming correspondent of the Isle of Man Examiner about a story that I had recently heard. he confirmed that in 1956 that had completely eradicated Bovine TB on the Isle of Man - the first country in Europe to do so. However, within 10 years it was back and they have been fighting it ever since. Unlike mainland UK they don't blame badgers there because there are none. They are not a native species on the island! Perhaps those still calling for a badger cull can explain that one.
Secondly, I understand that when cattle are tested in this country by injecting the neck, the same needle is used on between 10/15 cattle before it is replaced with a new one. The dangers of shared needles is widely known isnt it?
Posted by: Keith Baud | Tuesday, 08 July 2008 at 03:34 PM
Doesn't anyone see that by letting disease badgers continue to live, more badgers will catch the disease? Isn't it slightly less ethical to allow this disease to wipe out every single badger? Bovine TB is a harsh and horrible disease, resulting in a lengthy death. If we get rid of the diseased animals, we can work to prevent any more getting the disease. Its just logic!
Posted by: Nona | Wednesday, 14 October 2009 at 10:54 PM
I will be out of the office starting 31/03/2009 and will not return until 01/05/2021.
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Posted by: Sophie Morris | Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 04:02 AM