“Shooting a 'Running target' at night is notoriously difficult even for a 'Skilled' (ex millitary) marksman, to kill a large powerful mammal like a Badger a high velocity 'centre fire' rifle of at least .223 will have to be used, either that or special ammunition (rifled Slug,LG or AAA buckshot) in a Shotgun with a 3" chamber. Will these 'Farmer Marksmen' have these types of weapons ?? I suspect not, they will use 'What they have' , Shotguns with size 5 or 6 shot, the same as used for Rabbits and Woodpigeons. NOT good enough ! many Badgers will be terribly wounded and will die in agony in their Setts.
If High-velocity Rifles are used , then the Public had better start wearing Body-Armour.
A Crazy,Crazy and Dangerous Way to solve a simple problem.....Vaccinate not Cull.”

“Slaughtering our Wildlife is NOT 'The only way to go' When the Badgers are all dead and BTB is STILL raging through Cattle, will you start on Deer,WildBoar,Foxes ? It will NOT work, The ONLY solution is Vaccination for Both Badgers AND Cattle, EU law or no EU law, THAT is 'the only way to go.
WIldlife lovers who live in the countryside will not ALLOW this cull to proceed unmolested,
So, be aware.”

“It definitely isn't "all about the money". Farmers are paying for this trial themselves, and knowing firsthand how tight they can be I'm sure they wouldn't be volunteering to fork out for this cull if it wasn't absolutely necessary. How many of you "experts" have actually come anywhere close to experiencing the devastation that bTB causes to many farmers? Have you ever actually set one foot on a farm?

Sad though it may be, badgers do carry bTB and infect cattle. Why is it acceptable for farmers to be forced to cull thousands of their own livestock when nothing is being done about the badgers? We need a two-prongued attack to eliminate bTB in both cattle and badgers, not just cattle. At last we have a government that is doing something about this problem. The vaccination IS NOT EFFECTIVE because it can't get rid of bTB in animals that already have the disease.”

“Just a few more thoughts on Jan Rowe's justification for slaughtering tens of thousands of badgers--classified under the law here as protected animals. I've checked his claims about badger control on the continent. They are nonsense. Around one third of the 50,000 killed are road casualties. The others are either killed by hunters or destroyed because they are "in the way"--because they have dug under roads, buildings, whatever. They are not being culled to control bTB. And there is absolutely no evidence that "other countries" (Republic of Ireland apart) cull them becvause of the disease. So much for that convenient red herring. Jan @Rowe likes to claim farmers have done all they can to control bTB. Rubbish. Biosecurity (that's measures to keep badgers out of cattle food stores, for example, and double fencing to keep cattle on adjoining farms apart) is advisory only and largely ignored, although research by Fera shows that biosecurity pays off. The skin test, which anyone watching Countryfile will have seen, is unreliable--only about 80 per cent effective. So when herds are passed as clean, there's a good chance they are not; diseased cattle will have been missed. They stay in the herds and infect others. One remedy: test more cattle, more often and use the much more sensitive gamma interferon test that is available. Independent scientific researchers (ISG) have also recommended much tougher measures on cattle movements so that, for example, cattle from a farm with a poor history of bTB aren't bought by othersuntil that farm has a long TB-free history. It makes very good sense--but it's a recommendation that has not been enforced. And then of course we have the all too freequent examples of farmers deliberately flouting bTB regulations, including the notorious examples of ear-tag swapping where instead of sending valuable reactors (ie diseased cattle) to slaughter they have sent less valuable animals, pocketing the higher compensation and putting theirs and neighbouring cattle at prolonged risk. So when you see farmers--and notably NFU spokesmen--throwing up their hands and claiming there's nothing else we can do, take it with a very, very large pinch of salt. We, the taxpayers, are shelving out huge sums in compensation to farmers who could do much, much more (yes, it would a painful process) to control this cattle disease. But scientists assure us it would work. Badgers are NOT the main problem.”

“Farmers are going to slaughter tens of thousands of badgers--most of them healthy and entirely free of bTB. Jan Rowe, in a cavaliuer fashion we are so used to hearing from the NFU and its supporters, airily brushes aside the bald fact that this hitherto protected species is going to be subjected to a highly speculative, totally untried, and absolutely unscientific culling method--namely a hail of bullets. He says the pilot culls will test whether the method is humane and efficient. In other words, we don't know, but we'll use badgers as target practice to find out. That's fine, then, is it Mr Rowe? His claim that badger culling is practised in Germany and Sweden--and he implies it's for disease control-- is typical of the misleading rubbish that pro-cull factions dish out. It is the misfortune of the badger on the continent that it is seen as a quarry for shooters. In other words it is hunted. The only example of badgers being culled in an attempt to control bTB is in the Republic of Ireland, where, after some apparent initial success, it has failed. Vaccination could of course be rolled out on a massive scale. And it would work. Trials in Gloucestershire have proved that vaccination sharply reduces the prevalence of TB in badgers. By contrast, extensive national trials (RBCT) demonstrated that once culling is completed the remaining badgers have a HIGHER not lower prevalence of disease. The proposed pilot trials and subsequent massive proposed follow ups will destroy tens of thousands of badgers for, at best, by Government figures a 16 per cent reduction in bTB over NINE years and the costs of the cull (borne by farmers) will be higher than the savings. This proposal is a potential disaster for badgers, it will enrage the public, and farmers taking part will face a backlash.”

“Thanks for the link, Doctor Doom.”

“http://tinyurl.com/8xzkl27”

“Proof then for all those bleating on about there not being a vaccine, its just farmers are too tight to pay for it. I bet if it was a case of shoot infected cows theyd find a way to pay for it! Double standards. Also who will control that it is actually farmers who are doing the culling, not average joes? RIP the badger”

“Yes, it's all about the money. Is this a surprise?”

“It's not much of a trial for the ones they kill is it?”