Badger cull to go ahead

[DOGGER2UK]

Will the culled badger corpses be tested for TB?

[Dougan]

Interesting read..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthn ... Grant.html


Jenks

The piece starts by painting the picture of badgers that he wants to - Quoting Beatrix Potter, and telling of hedgehogs been eaten alive (give me a break :roll: ) - And this statement: "The rise of badgers is nice in itself, but it has led to the decline of hedgehogs, ground-nesting birds and bumblebees" is just laughable

One thing he does get right, is pointing out just how close Defra is to the Government - Jenks, weren't you saying they were independent ?

Charles Moore is a very good writer...he could argue night is day if he wanted to....

[Sandgroper]

- And this statement: "The rise of badgers is nice in itself, but it has led to the decline of hedgehogs, ground-nesting birds and bumblebees" is just laughable

Just as an aside - as badgers are omnivores http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/a ... ood_habits and take a wide variety of foods including small mammals, birds, amphibians, fruit and cereal crops - wouldn't an unchecked and increasing population have an adverse impact on all the prey species they feed on? As well as potentially causing them to come into conflict with fruit and cereal crop growers - with an increased call to control them?

Would it not be better then to maintain badger levels at a sustainable levels, thus preventing overpopulation and increased pressure on the badgers natural prey? It would maintain the health of the badger population due a decrease in stressors - overpopulation, competition for food and disease etc. Then you would have healthier population of badgers and the argument regarding the cause and spread of bTB would fall back on the farming practises because the badger population is smaller and healthier and therefore not at fault?

[Dougan]

- And this statement: "The rise of badgers is nice in itself, but it has led to the decline of hedgehogs, ground-nesting birds and bumblebees" is just laughable

Just as an aside - as badgers are omnivores http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/a ... ood_habits and take a wide variety of foods including small mammals, birds, amphibians, fruit and cereal crops - wouldn't an unchecked and increasing population have an adverse impact on all the prey species they feed on?

I'm not disputing that badgers are omnivores, or that they eat hedgehogs - It's the wording of the statement - to say 'it has LED to the decline' is completely wrong...'led' infers that they are a major or main contributor - the main contributor to the decline of hedgehogs, ground-nesting birds and bumblebees is, of course, humans; through change of land use (turning the countryside into mainly agricultural or residential use) and farming practices (use of pesticides, nitrogen fertilisers etc.)...

...one of the biggest problems to hedgehogs in the last few decades has been the tendency/fashion to totally fence in gardens in residential areas, which completely restricts their movements, as they are not good climbers or diggers....

...and as far as I know, I haven't heard of any link at all between badgers and the decline of bumblebees (?)...

At most, you could say that badgers 'may' be a 'minor' contributing factor, along with many others, most of which are having a larger impact to the decline...

...the way it's written is completely biased and unscientific...but as I say he is a journalist (sorry Gaz)...or do you only mistrust journalists when they write about Afghanistan, race or politics?

[Christel]

Removal of hedges is a major contributor to the decline of many species.

[Christel]

Just as an aside - as badgers are omnivores http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/a ... ood_habits and take a wide variety of foods including small mammals, birds, amphibians, fruit and cereal crops - wouldn't an unchecked and increasing population have an adverse impact on all the prey species they feed on? As well as potentially causing them to come into conflict with fruit and cereal crop growers - with an increased call to control them?

Would it not be better then to maintain badger levels at a sustainable levels, thus preventing overpopulation and increased pressure on the badgers natural prey? It would maintain the health of the badger population due a decrease in stressors - overpopulation, competition for food and disease etc. Then you would have healthier population of badgers and the argument regarding the cause and spread of bTB would fall back on the farming practises because the badger population is smaller and healthier and therefore not at fault?

You have a point, which is why mankind is managing the environment to the best of their knowledge. Culling deer is necessary not only for their own sake but also for the surroundings where they live. I am not against culling badgers, they have no natural enemies, only thing I can think of are cars
I think, having no evidence whatsoever, that culling badgers will benefit the local wildlife and also the badgers.
However culling badgers to get rid of TB...no, that does not make sense.

[meles meles]

Removal of hedges is a major contributor to the decline of many species.

Wiping out the hedge funds ought to get rid of the banking species...

[Christel]

Will the culled badger corpses be tested for TB?

I do not know and when I saw the question I thought, how come I do not know. I just never picked that information up anywhere.

[Dougan]

Just as an aside - as badgers are omnivores http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/a ... ood_habits and take a wide variety of foods including small mammals, birds, amphibians, fruit and cereal crops - wouldn't an unchecked and increasing population have an adverse impact on all the prey species they feed on? As well as potentially causing them to come into conflict with fruit and cereal crop growers - with an increased call to control them?

Would it not be better then to maintain badger levels at a sustainable levels, thus preventing overpopulation and increased pressure on the badgers natural prey? It would maintain the health of the badger population due a decrease in stressors - overpopulation, competition for food and disease etc. Then you would have healthier population of badgers and the argument regarding the cause and spread of bTB would fall back on the farming practises because the badger population is smaller and healthier and therefore not at fault?

You have a point, which is why mankind is managing the environment to the best of their knowledge. Culling deer is necessary not only for their own sake but also for the surroundings where they live. I am not against culling badgers, they have no natural enemies, only thing I can think of are cars

I don't want to upsett meles meles, but I know what you mean, and I have said that 'sustainable harvesting' would not be wrong - The problem is that people have never been sensible or reasonable where badgers are concerned...instead of taking the odd one for the pot, or controlling a few problem animals, there has been a tendency to take out the whole sett...and often by very inhumane methods - which is why they ended up protected....

....but I still disagree with 'culling' in any circumstances...

[Dougan]

Will the culled badger corpses be tested for TB?

I do not know and when I saw the question I thought, how come I do not know. I just never picked that information up anywhere.

Don't know for sure, but I'd be very surprised if it weren't part of the process.