County selected for badger cull
BADGERS in the Tewkesbury area will be shot as part of pilot culls later this year.
The Government announced yesterday that Gloucestershire and west Somerset would be the two areas where the controversial measure would be used to try to tackle the impact of TB in cattle.
And it confirmed that the area in Gloucestershire lay predominantly within the districts of Tewkesbury and the Forest of Dean, as well as parts of the Wychavon and Malvern Hills districts.
Gloucestershire's NFU representative, Jan Rowe, said: "We, as farmers, are obviously pleased that there's a potential for dealing with TB in badgers. At least this is the first step towards that process."
But animal groups said the Government should not have given the move the go-ahead.
Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust's chief executive, Dr Gordon McGlone, said: "We are dismayed that Defra has made this decision."
Farmers will be able to apply for permission to kill badgers in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset over a period of six weeks from late autumn.
3 Comments
by rayjsj55
Saturday, February 04 2012, 3:43PM
“My Distant relative Edward Jenner, found that the only SURE cure for Smallpox was Vaccination, this is also true for BTB. Culling wildlife will NOT stop the spread, indeed past Badger culls have proved that Badgers (possibly the infected ones,while the unaffected are shot) will 'scatter' when a significant proportion of the 'group' are shot. It's called 'Perturbation'. AND it will happen here. Vaccinate all Badgers AND Cattle Now. The law against Export of 'Vaccinated' must be repealed or ignored. Totally Barbaric and it will NOT work.
R J S Jenner.”
by badgerhugger
Friday, February 03 2012, 4:57PM
“Quotes from the scientists who carried out ten years of research trials.
" culling can have no meaningful effect on bTB"
"Culling cannot be cost effective"
" Could make matters worse."
Quote from David Cameron. (Ecclesfield campaign meeting 2010)
"I am unaware of any research that says culling could help spread bTB"
Quote from DEFRA
"Will reduce bTB by 16% over 9 years."
Quote from Badger Trust
"That leaves 84% unaffected."”
by Shireresident
Friday, January 20 2012, 12:00PM
“TB in cattle was a problem long before badgers became a protected species and it's not terribly clear if the badgers are carryers or just the vector whereby infection is spread. Doubtless shooting them is the quickest and cheapest option but with all the resources of modern medical science available to address the problem it hardly seems civilised to use this rather crude solution as a first resort.”