Plan for badger cull is slammed as ‘sickening’
A WILDLIFE rescuer has described the government’s decision to allow badgers to be culled as ‘sickening’.
The RSPCA is also devastated that, following years of contentious debate, the government has told Sussex farmer they can hire marksmen to shoot the animals.
The government hopes to try and stop the spread of cattle catching the disease bovine tuberculosis (TB) but the plans means the badger population in Sussex could be reduced by 70 per cent.
Trevor Weeks, from East Sussex Wildlife Rescue Ambulance Service, said culling the creatures will not solve the TB problem.
“All mammals can carry TB – foxes, rabbits, dear and even humans – it is a fact of life,” said Mr Weeks.
“Culling badgers is pointless and the farming community should take issues like TB in to consideration and prepare for them. No other industry gets subsidised to the extent that farming does.”
The RSPCA has long been firmly opposed to proposals for a widespread cull and has battled against various plans put forward, and previously dismissed, by different governments.
It thinks vaccination of badgers, increased levels of testing, improved biosecurity and stricter controls on the movement of cattle are more effective ways of dealing with the problem in the long-term.
David Bowles from the RSPCA said, “It is a black day for badgers - a day we have been dreading.
“At a time when the Welsh government has stepped back from a cull, the government in England is slowly shredding its own animal welfare credentials.”
Martin Hole, the farmer from Montague Farm in Hankham, said, “It has been a black day for farmers for the last 10 years and the RSPCA should remember what a miserable death the badger itself suffers as a result of TB. It is of course a very, very difficult decision but life has hard decisions and if science supports it, we need to knuckle down and take those deeply unpleasant decision.”
Eastbourne MP Stephen Lloyd said, “I’m disappointed that Caroline Spelman has chosen to progress with the badger cull. While I appreciate there are legitimate arguments on both sides, there is still strong evidence that a badger cull may not succeed. While any reasonable doubt remains, I cannot countenance the potential culling of badgers and I have written to Caroline Spelman to inform her of my opposition.”
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Comments
There are 6 comments to this article
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Veracity
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 02:16 PMOh this poxy website. Was off the air for most of the morning. Now it's all change again with a long delay in comment being posted. Meanwhile the comment vanishes into the ether leading to a repeat. IT my a*se!
Veracity
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 02:11 PMBlimey pp. Whats got up your nose? You seem to have moved to the right of Attilla the Hun and Mrs. T. We regularly get badgers on our lawn during the night looking for worms. There is a sett in the middle of our estate and the badgers have refused to move out. We peacefully co-exist with these charming creatures, as they do with the local hedgehogs. I think you'll find that bunny is faster on his pins than brock so only the sick and already snuffed get noshed. Do you really think that chavs and their Look at me, I'm a Hard Man Chav-Spaniels will actually get of their fat gongas to chase badgers (Inedible!) if it doesn't involve beer, burgers or TV soaps? You marsh dwellers still go otter hunting then?
Veracity
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 02:01 PMBlimey pp! What's happened? You seem to have moved to the right of Genghis Khan and Mrs. T. We regularly have badgers in our garden at night. I've seen two of them worm hunting on our lawn at 2am. They seem to peacefully co-exist with our hedgehogs, and I think you'll find that bunny is faster on it's feet than brock, thus it's only the sick that get noshed. As for chavs and their Look at me, I'm a Hard Man, Chav-Spaniels, can you really see them or their owners getting off their fat gongas to chase badgers if there's no booze, burgers or TV involved? You marsh dwellers still otter hunting?
pevenseypete
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 12:32 PMyet more sentimentality from the great British public . How many people have actually seen a badger apart from squashed on the counties roads . If they looked like rats nobody would care what happened to them . Beatrix Potter and kenneth Graham have a lot to answer for . A badger can survive 2 years with TB before it dies and can pass it on to a lot of cattle int that time . Also do you sentimental townies realise they eat little bunnykins and hedgehogs !!!. The population is huge , why don't we reintroduce badger baiting , it will give the local chavs something to do at weekends when the benefits office is closed ,and will gfive their Staffies some exercise
roneoron
Monday, August 1, 2011 at 10:17 PMIf badgers die a 'miserable death' from TB then how come the badger population increases? Wouldn't the sensible thing to do would be to inoculate cattle against TB? Or is that too expensive when set against the cost of gassing and shooting one of our most loved wild mammals? Farmer equals Conservative equals vandal to my mind. I thought the New Labour inepts were the pits, but this lot are worse by far in every single cock-up they conceive!
pensive
Monday, August 1, 2011 at 09:07 PMThe last cull did not work. There is loads of scientific evidence which is stating a cull is not going to work. This government has done nothing but make the wrong decisions against what the people of this country want. I would never vote conservative as they are the worst against animals and many other things. Look at what they tried to do with the forests - disgraceful. Time this idiot caMORON shut up and packed his bags and left.
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