[Arcturus]

my opinion for what its worth (copy/pasted from elsewhere's):: i believe most of mainland Europe is TB free, including Scotland, who have rid themselves of the disease via better farming methods. There are no badgers on the Isle of Anglesley, but they have bovine TB. Personally i feel that if you routinely administer systemic antibiotics to cows, which is generally the case, then you interfere with it's natural immune responses to illness. As well as this they have at their disposal the science of vaccination...(faulty science if you ask me but that's another matter)...why don't they use that if they're so sure of it's efficacy? At least then they only interfere with one animal. In Ireland sometimes upto 60000 snares are set each night which catch "healthy" badgers too...many take hours to die struggling in these traps whilst their young starve under ground and many believe that there is zilch affect on bovine TB anyway. I feel that the powers that be honestly believe it's worthwhile but then they are under pressure as it's their job is to find an answer. And of course the usual scare tactics are employed to get the populus on board with the proposal. Farmers are fear led into agreeing with the proposals thinking that their livelihood is on the line...understandable that they are concerned but the notion that they can remedy the situation via killing another animal is preposterous to me, and in my opinion deeply flawed, with very unfortunate consequences.

edit: i see from other posts that its money that is the reason they are not vaccinating...poor excuse. why don't they try allowing the animals to fight off illness themselves...predators and illness are what keep a herd strong, its nature's way...yes some animals will die but the others will be stronger. routine antibiotics, dehorning, not allowing bulls to fight for the females; all this leads to a weaker animal.