Monday, April 15, 2013
Badger cull: reaping the appalling consequences of a misguided policy
The Labour MP, Dianne Abbott has done us all a service this week by highlighting figures that show that the number of people prosecuted for cruelty to badgers has almost doubled in five years.
The BBC say that 58 people were prosecuted in magistrates' courts under the Protection of Badgers Act in 2011, up from 30 in 2007.
Ms Abbott said pro-cull campaigning has given a "green light" to those carrying out crimes such as badger baiting, and I believe that she is right.
There is no scientific basis for a cull of badgers, but the method chosen by the Government of using marksmen to shoot the protected animals at night from a distance is just asking for trouble.
Apart from the obvious danger to human life, the potential for wounded badgers wandering around in great pain and the cost, this policy seems to me designed to exacerbate the perturbation effect so as to spread bTB even further afield. Policing the cull will also be a major challenge.
Given the nature of the cull it is little wonder that individuals are taking the law into their own hands.
There is still time for a rethink. A vaccination programme, as being conducted in Wales, is a viable long-term solution to eradicate the reservoir of bTB in the badger population. All the Government need to do then is to get authority to vaccinate cattle so as to get rid of this problem once and for all.
The BBC say that 58 people were prosecuted in magistrates' courts under the Protection of Badgers Act in 2011, up from 30 in 2007.
Ms Abbott said pro-cull campaigning has given a "green light" to those carrying out crimes such as badger baiting, and I believe that she is right.
There is no scientific basis for a cull of badgers, but the method chosen by the Government of using marksmen to shoot the protected animals at night from a distance is just asking for trouble.
Apart from the obvious danger to human life, the potential for wounded badgers wandering around in great pain and the cost, this policy seems to me designed to exacerbate the perturbation effect so as to spread bTB even further afield. Policing the cull will also be a major challenge.
Given the nature of the cull it is little wonder that individuals are taking the law into their own hands.
There is still time for a rethink. A vaccination programme, as being conducted in Wales, is a viable long-term solution to eradicate the reservoir of bTB in the badger population. All the Government need to do then is to get authority to vaccinate cattle so as to get rid of this problem once and for all.
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Well said, it is an absolute tragedy, please help us get the petition to 250,000 signatures by the end of April. Which should instigate an opposition debate, one they will have to listen to, please help!
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/38257
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/38257
I note that reading as I do every day that Peter Black is keeping The debate on a badger kill still alive. Peter is a Welsh Assembly Member.
I am passing on this blog to my Cardiff Animal Network contacts throughout the UK though I hope all will have signed the petition (set up by Brian May).
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I am passing on this blog to my Cardiff Animal Network contacts throughout the UK though I hope all will have signed the petition (set up by Brian May).
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