Badger Cull.
 

Plans have been announced by the Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman [ remember her ? She was behind the Sell the Forests fiasco ] to allow badgers in certain areas to be culled up to 70% to "prevent" the spread of TB to cattle. The science is highly dubious and opposed by animal welfare organisations and wildlife groups, including many leading scientists. The cull is to be done by "specially trained" marksmen i.e. gun-nuts ! This is a very emotive subject, so expect the possibility of "violent disorder" if attempts are made by animal rights groups to prevent this wholesale murder. [Guess who's side I'm on !] The game was given away yesterday when it was revealed that a vaccine was available but I guess a bullet is cheaper than a vaccine shot ! David Attenborough [ a living god !] has said that all this will do is spread out the badger's territory into virgin areas.
This government never learns, it seems. :icon_frown: I feel a petition coming on :smile:

Been a bit remiss in not putting up the Badger Cull petition.

I totally agree Norseman. I signed the petition last week, I hope the government will listen to public opinion, but I fear they may not. Like you said it's all doewn to cost & the vaccine is a bigger expense.
These beautiful creatures should not be hounded like this. What'sa the betting that badger baiting etc will increase when these licences to kill are issued.
It makes my blood boil & makes me want to weep. Why do we humans think we have the right to do this ?
S
x

Dont despair, Shandy. Remember the Save the Forests Petition !

Norseman may I alert people to this over at my place?

All i have to say is this.

Its a part of the book Gaia;s garden

""SOMETHING WAS STEALING the Bullock
brothers' food.
Joe, Douglas, and Sam Bullock had moved to
Washington's San Juan Islands in the early 19 8os,
and set to work creating a food forest. They built
up their property's soil, and planted fruit trees, nut
trees, and hundreds of other species, all calculated
to boost the biological diversity and lushness of this
once-scrubby, blackberry-entangled parcel. Now, a
decade later, walnut trees and bamboo groves
shaded the paths. Plums, peaches, cherries, and
apples hung in thick festoons from spreading
branches, and beneath them, flowers, berries, edible
greens, and soil-building plants sprawled over
every inch of earth. The Bullocks had created a
self-renewing ecosystem that fed them, furnished
nursery stock for their landscaping business, and
sheltered local wildlife...

....A close look at the marsh revealed that some
animal was gnawing the tender shoots off at the
waterline before the sprouts were big enough for
the brothers to see. The thieves were thorough.
Nothing remained for the Bullock brothers and
their families.
The culprit was quickly obvious. "We'd noticed
that as the bog matured and became more productive,
the muskrat population was really taking off,".....

....The brothers lamented the loss of their wild
food, yet refused to begin exterminating the culprits.
"For one thing, we weren't going to kill off
the wildlife that we ourselves had attracted,"
Douglas explained. "For another, we could have
shot muskrats for weeks and they'd just breed right
back again. The habitat was too good.""".....


.....A cattail-less season or two went by. Then, suddenly
the tasty shoots were back, and the oncebusy
"harbor" was more tranquil. The muskrat
population had dwindled. What had happened?
"Otters moved in," Douglas said. "The muskrats
were a great new food source. We'd never seen
otters here before. More than otters showed up,
too. We got other predators: bald eagles, hawks,
owls. They cleaned up." Instead of futilely trying to
trap the fast-breeding muskrats, the Bullocks sat
back and let nature do the job. The brothers merely
provided a rich, diverse habitat where a vigorous
food web—one that included predators could
emerge and right imbalances, such as a horde of
ravenous muskrats."""

_Chapter 2


Just leave them alone, and it will balance out. Most people fail to realize this simple, common sence notion.

Spread the word, Daisy :D It's a really satisfying feeling to poke a politician with a sharp stick while doing something worth-while. :wink:

Amen to that, Time ! Remember the lesson of the Yellowstone Park. All wolves shot by ranchers, which lead to an explosion of coyotes and foxes. Wolves re-introduced and coyote/fox populations go back into balance. Nature does this species culling much better than we do.

Yup. Like I can uderstand if we wanted to respectfuly keep the numbrs down, we are only human right? But going in and killing them for the reason mentioned is asinine. People here are all mad that there are deer in town now. They arent dangerous, but they go on the roads and get killed, and hurt us too, so theyre mandating killing a **** ton of deer, instead of actualy letting bears keep their numbers down ( theres NEVER been a bear attack in the city here, ever)

THe same goes with the buffalo. THere were massive fires in the praries after they eliminated the buffalo, because there wasnt the proper animals to keep the dead and dry plants eliminated, so more fires poped up.