New e-Petition to End the Badger Cull Instead of Expanding it to new areas

As many of you will know the Government has been carrying out pilot badger culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire since 2013 and extended the cull to Dorset last year. Today it has been announced that seven new licences have been granted for parts of Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Somerset and Dorset. Up to 10,000 badgers could be killed this year.

Regular readers of my blog will know how strongly I feel about these slaughters. I am not going to turn this into a long rant and repeat all my reasons for being so anti-cull but will just say that independent badger experts and scientists are against the culls, the vast majority of badgers slaughtered will be healthy and an independent panel in the first year of the pilot cull came to the conclusion that the slaughters had been inhumane and ineffective. None of the badgers killed have been tested for bTB and monitoring of the slaughters has been virtually non-existent. The main cause of bTB in cattle is due to cattle to cattle transmission - the badger (a protected species) is just being used as a scapegoat. The way forward is not the mass extermination of badgers in such an inhumane way but better biosecurity, improved cattle testing and movement regulations, vaccination of badgers (and eventually cattle).

Since 2013 the slaughter of badgers has cost the tax payer £25 million and yet DEFRA's own statistics show that, despite badger culling, the number of cattle slaughtered because they are infected with bTB continues to increase both in and around the cull zones. Scotland became officially bTB free without killing a single badger and badger vaccination (not culling) in Wales has resulted in new herd TB incidences decreasing by 14% in the past year. Ireland, having slaughtered badgers for years, has now decided to stop this policy and vaccinate instead.



There is a link here to an article in the Guardian last week by Dr Brian May.



The main purpose of writing this post is to ask you please to consider signing a new Government e-petition put forward by Simon King to end the badger cull instead of expanding it to new areas. The link is here



Already 8000 people have signed this petition and I would also ask please if you could consider sharing it on facebook/twitter and ask family and friends to sign. We have to give badgers a voice and let the Government know how we feel about these senseless slaughters otherwise 1000's of badgers could be killed for no reason.

Thanks so much.

Petitions to Help Secure Future Funding from Government for the National Wildlife Crime Unit

The National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU)was set up in 2006 to investigate and prosecute wildlife criminals who commit crimes or cruelty against wild animals. The Unit does vitally important work investigating crimes such as badger baiting, hare coursing, illegal persecution of birds of prey, deer poaching, rare bird egg theft and trade in endangered species.

In 2014 the Government announced funding for just 2 years to support the NWCU. Sadly, this Unit may be forced to close in six weeks as the Government has, so far, not confirmed that it will continue to fund this crucial Unit. The Government has always seemed exceedingly proud of its commitment to end international wildlife crime and illegal trade in wildlife products setting aside £10 million pounds for this purpose. Surely, it can, therefore, find just £427,000 per annum to fund the NWCU?


If you would like to sign petitions to ask the Government to continue funding there are two available:

Government e-petition

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/118005

38 Degrees petition

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-and-protect-the-national-wildlife-crime-unit



More information about the National Wildlife Crime Unit can be found at their website

http://www.nwcu.police.uk/


and another link to an article in the Guardian last week:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/feb/18/national-wildlife-unit-to-close-within-weeks


which gives further information.



Please also consider writing to your MP urging them to ask DEFRA to continue funding the NWCU.


Thanks so much.



Apologies that the ancient version of Blogger that I use refuses to put in links that actually work - please just copy and paste above links.

A Plea on behalf of English Badgers

There are many wildlife and conservation issues that deeply concern and upset me which, in the main, I do not blog about but every so often an issue occurs which really angers me.

Long time followers of my blog (and my Followers on Twitter) will know how angry I am about the proposed badger cull so I hope you will forgive me for departing from my usual type of post.

From 1st June licences issued by Natural England to allow badger culling trials came into force. The cull zones are West Somerset and West Gloucestershire and surveys are currently taking place in areas of Dorset to enable the further killing of badgers (a protected species) in these areas.

At some stage this summer, over a 6 week period, 60 mercenaries will begin free shooting of badgers (a totally untested method) with high velocity rifles killing at least 5000 badgers in each cull zone. A bounty of £10 will be paid for each badger killed.

In my opinion, the cull is totally unscientific and will not solve the bTB problem in cattle as can be seen from the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT) overseen by the Independent Steering Group (ISG) costing £50 million over 10 years killing 11,000 badgers. The ISG report concluded that badger culling "can make no meaningful contribution to the control of bTB in cattle in Britain".

Lord Krebs who oversaw the RBCT has said of the current plans for a badger cull "I would go down the vaccination and biosecurity route rather than this crazy scheme...."

30 eminent animal disease scientists wrote a letter to The Observer published on 14th October, 2012, saying they were concerned that "badger culling risks becoming a costly distraction from nationwide TB control" and urging the Government to reconsider its strategy.




Owen Paterson, the Environment Secretary has said that if the pilot culls are declared efficient, safe and humane, he wants to create 40 more cull zones in the next 4 years and has plans for badger culling to continue at a high level for up to 25 years. This would mean that up to 100,000 badgers would be slaughtered unnecessarily and uneconomically. He has also said that farmers could be allowed to shoot badgers (at present a protected species) in the same way they can now kill other vermin.

The proposed slaughter is totally unselective and around 85% of badgers shot will be healthy and not infected with bTB. DEFRA has no plans to test dead badgers to see if they were carrying bTB and no plans to vaccinate any badgers that are fortunate enough to survive the massacre. If the cull begins this month lactating sows are likely to be shot leaving badger cubs to starve in setts, newly emerged cubs will be shot and DEFRA has refused to answer questions on how the suffering of injured badgers who bolt back into setts after being shot will be alleviated.

Even worse, if that's possible, it was revealed last week that the Government plans to estimate whether the pilot culls are humane or not by timing the screams of wounded badgers - the noises made will be compared to those made by harpooned whales.

It also has to be remembered that it is very difficult to estimate badger populations and DEFRA has already revised its population estimates in the cull zones from estimates made last Autumn. There is a very real risk that badgers could become locally extinct in the cull zones.

I have every sympathy with farmers whose cattle are found to be harbouring bTB but badgers are being made a scapegoat and even if every badger in England was killed there would still be bTB in cattle.

DEFRA talks about a wildlife reservoir but badgers are not the source of the problem. The disease was almost eradicated in the 1970's, without killing any badgers, and this was the case for the following two decades. After 1990 cattle bTB began to increase due to complacency in cattle controls. Following the BSE problem in the early 1990's there was a large increase in movement due to restocking followed by a doubling of bTB in SW England and new hotspots developing elsewhere. In addition MAFF let testing slip to 4 yearly. During the foot and mouth disease in 2001 there was no testing and this was followed by a backlog of 26,000 herds with overdue tests. The years 2000 - 2002 showed a large increase in cattle TB and the disease spread to areas that had been TB free for 50 years.

The way forward is to vaccinate badgers against the disease, improve biosecurity on farms and improve testing and introduce better controls over cattle movements. In the future when advances have been made on the DIVA test, which will differentiate between cattle that have bTB and those that have been vaccinated,it is to be hoped that the EU will allow cattle to be vaccinated.



I could write reams and reams about my reasons for being against the badger cull but I have ranted for long enough and I am sure many will have "switched off" by now:) and my aim of writing is to ask you please, if you are against the cull, to consider writing to your MP letting him know of your concerns if you haven't already done so. Every letter is logged and matters.


I am sure most of you will have already signed Brian May's e-petition

epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions38257

but if we can all keep on asking our friends and relative to sign it will help. Again every signature matters.



In addition, Labour has announced that it will table an Opposition Day debate on the Government's Plan for a badger cull on Wednesday, 5th June. So again, if you haven't already done so please write to your MP - you can use writetothem.com - asking them to vote for the motion against the badger cull on 5th June.


If you live outside the UK you can sign a petition here :

Edit 4th June Ever so sorry I have removed this link for now because I have just tried to visit the website to order a t-shirt and there appears to be a problem with it.



Apologies for not providing links to click on please just copy and paste.


For lots more information on the badger cull and more ways to help please visit

The Badger Trust website at www.badger.org.uk

and

www.badgergate.org that has lots of features by scientists, vets, etc. against the cull




Many thanks for listening.


Together we can save England's badgers from a cruel, unselective, unscientific slaughter.

Time is Running Out for the Badgers

Time is fast running out for English badgers as, despite widespread opposition, the Government is determined to go ahead with the pilot badger cull. This cull could start at any time and thousands of badgers will be shot. The cull will be unselective and around 85% of the badgers killed will be healthy and bTB free. In addition badgers may well not be killed cleanly but return to their sett to die a painful death.

The shooting season will extend to the end of January and during this month there could be suckling badger cubs in the sett left to die if their mother is killed.

I know I have done several posts on this issue but if you do not agree with the badger cull please go to the stop the cull petition on the Government site and sign if you have not already done so. There are already nearly 150,000 signatures but the more signatures that appear the more likely it is that the Government may take notice.


epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/38257

Science has proved that badger culling does not work. The main cause of cattle bTB is via cattle to cattle transmission so the way forward would seem to be vaccination of badgers (this is going ahead in Wales instead of culling), pushing the EU to allow for cattle vaccination, increased biosecurity, increased cattle bTB testing and improvements in cattle husbandry.

It would be a tragedy if the badger, such an icon of the English countryside, were to become locally extinct in such an inhumane manner.

Most, if not all, mammals can carry bTB, and I am very concerned that once the Government has decimated our badger population it will then start culling other species.

Please help Stop the Badger Cull

Sadly today the Badger Trust lost its of Court of Appeal Challenge to Government proposals to cull thousands of badgers in an attempt to stem bovine TB.

This means that within weeks pilot culls could start in parts of Somerset and Gloucestershire where thousands of badgers could be killed (or maimed - how do you shoot a moving badger and kill it outright?). Many healthy badgers will be killed - the Randomised Badger Culling Trials (RBCT) showed that even in bTB hotspots less than 1 in 7 badgers were infected with bTB.

Most independent scientific opinion suggests that the cull is unlikely to work and will probably make matters worse due to the "perturbation" effect.

I have already done several posts on this theme so won't repeat all of my arguments against culling but will just say that, in my view, this is a political decision and not one based on science.

After all we have already had a 10 year badger cull between 1997 and 2007 costing about £50 million pounds and overseen by the Independent Steering Group. The present Government if it presses ahead with the cull would seem to go against the ISG's comment in its findings and recommendations that

"Given its high costs and low benefits we therefore conclude that badger culling is unlikely to contribute usefully to the control of cattle TB in Britain and recommend that TB control efforts focus on measures other than badger culling".


It would be far better if we tackled bTB by improving biosecurity, cattle testing and animal husbandry accompanied by a vaccination programme for badgers and making efforts to persuade the EU to accept cattle vaccination - it would appear that a cattle vaccination which differentiates between cows that are infected with TB and those that have been vaccinated is being developed.

If you feel strongly about this matter please visit

www.justdosomething.org.uk

where there is a link to a new Government e-petition created recently by Dr Brian May against badger culling. If you have a few minutes more there is a very good short video featuring people such as Sir David Attenborough and Simon King giving their views on the culling.

If enough people sign this petition we may be able to stop this awful and unnecessary killing of badgers that have yet again been made scapegoats. Every signature matters. Remember the Government back down after the "Save our Forests" campaign?!!

Petition to Save the Badgers

38 Degrees who ran such a successful "Save Our Forests" campaign have now organised a petition to try and prevent the recently proposed badger cull.

If you feel opposed to the cull please visit their website at:

http://38degrees.org.uk

and sign the petition. The more signatures they receive the more powerful their voice will be.

Many thanks

Totally against Badger Culling

Earlier this week Ms Caroline Spelman, Environment Secretary, announced that, although there would be no badger culling in England this year as a measure to control cattle tuberculosis (bTB), there would be consultations on methodology. Culling by controlled shooting could take place in pilot trials next Spring with wider implementation the following year.

Although this decision was not exactly unexpected, I was really appalled by it for the following reasons.

The European Badger (Meles meles) is a protected species and, although under certain circumstances, for example to tackle disease, the Government can approve culling, I feel the killing of badgers is morally unjustifiable and inhumane. Prevention of the spread of bTB to cattle can be tackled in so many other ways - improved farm biosecurity measures especially around food storage containers and drinking troughs, improved husbandry management, more controls on cattle movement and more trialling and eventual introduction of vaccines for badgers and cattle. There is also far too much risk of badgers not being killed outright and suffering horribly from gunshot wounds.

In addition, culling could lead to local badger extinctions.

All relevant scientific evidence suggests that culling is ineffective and will not solve the cattle bTB problem as can be seen from the culling trial by the Independent Scientific Group (ISG) (costing £50 million pounds to administer). In their summary and recommendations they said "Given its high costs and low benefits we therefore conclude that badger culling is unlikely to contribute usefully to the control of cattle TB in Britain and recommend that TB control efforts focus on measures other than badger culling".

So why is this advice now being ignored?

A cull would be non-selective; targeting healthy as well as diseased badgers. Most badgers are free from bTB. The Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT), overseen by the ISG, demonstrated that even in bTB hotspots less than 1 in 7 badgers were infected.

The Government has suggested that in the pilot trials badgers should be culled by controlled shooting by marksmen, operating under licences from Natural England, targeting the badgers at night. This method and its effectiveness has never been tested previously.

The RBCT discovered in its trials that killing some badgers can lead to "pertubation" (i.e. the remaining badgers from the sett will scatter to other areas) thus increasing disease in cattle on the edge of test regions. Under current Government proposals pertubation will not be monitored even though controlled shooting could possibly lead to high scattering of surviving animals.

In 2009 and 2010 no badgers were culled but there were improvements in the testing of cattle, movement controls and cattle husbandry, resulting in a 15% reduction in the incidences of bTB.

The location of pilot trials will become public knowledge as local people will need to be consulted before culling can commence which may well lead to protests and consequent problems with public order and safety in the trial areas.

It appears to me that in recent decades the badger has often been made a scapegoat in the spread of bTB and its alleged role seems to have taken attention away from important research into other solutions and cattle management issues.

Culling would be costly and time consuming and could even exacerbate the problems of transmission. It is not a well proven solution to the problem as past trials have shown.

Ms Spelman's Chief Scientific Adviser claims the policy is science-led but DEFRA says on its website that "cattle to cattle transmission is a serious cause of disease spread". As previously mentioned the ISG in its summary did not recommend badger culling as a solution. The ISG has made the scientific view that culling of badgers provides "no meaningful contribution" and is "not cost effective" as a tool for reducing incidence of bTB. The RBCT from 1998 to 2006 researched how bTB spread between cattle, badgers and other species and reached the important conclusions that

1. Although badgers were a source of bTB, badger culling could make no meaningful contribution to cattle TB control in Britain and some ideas under consideration could make the situation worse not better.

2. Failures in cattle testing means that cattle themselves contribute to the persistence and spread of bTB where it is found and in some areas are likely to be the primary reasons for infection.

Scientific evidence also suggest that rising levels of the disease can be reversed and spreading of the disease can be stopped by the rigorous use of cattle based control measures alone.

So what is the best way of tackling the transmission of bTB in cattle?

Cattle mainly catch bTB from other cattle and the risk of the disease spreading is highest when cattle are kept in close proximity to each other in enclosed areas, such as overwintering in sheds, or when they make contact with other cattle at markets or shows. Therefore, surely improved husbandry and efficient movement controls are part of the answer.

Increased biosecurity by farmers to reduce the risk of wildlife, such as badgers and deer, contaminating food and water is also essential.

But most importantly widespread vaccination of badgers following more field trials would seem the most humane, cost effective and efficient way forward. In the long term a vaccination for cattle would control the spread of the disease even more effectively especially as a test is being developed which can differentiate between cows infected with bTB and those that have been vaccinated.

A BBC poll last month revealed that most people (both city and rural dwellers) opposed a badger cull. 63% were against culling, 31% in favour and the remainder undecided.

If you are against the proposed cull of badgers The League Against Cruel Sports have an online petition at



https://www.e-activist.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=122&ea.campaign.id=10568

They have 18,000 signatures and are hoping to get a million but even 100,000 would be enough to start a debate in parliament.





Sources

Websites:

The Mammal Society (http://www.mammal.org.uk/(
The Badgers Trust (http://www.badger.org.uk/Content/Home.asp)
Save Me Badgers in Peril (http://www.brianmay.com/save-me/badgers/)
The Wildlife Trusts (http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/)
Bovine TB: Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT) Report
(http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20081027092120/http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/tb/culling/index.htm)

Please stop the culling

An organisation called "Songbird Survival Trust" would appear, in my view, to have some very strange and mistaken ideas about the main reasons behind the decline in our songbird populations. The Trust is funding a cull of corvids to be carried out by the Game and Conservation Wildlife Trust in the hope that this will prove that culling will aid the recovery of songbird populations.

Suggestions and actions like this detract from the real main reasons for the decline of songbirds as shown by many scientific studies carried out by well respected bird organisations.

Songbirds and farmland bird species have declined in numbers because of agricultural intensification leading to habitat loss and degradation, loss of hedgerows, changes from spring to autumn arable crop sowing, increased pesticide and fertiliser use, loss of winter stubbles and a decline in mixed farming.

In other words songbirds are declining because of the impacts of human activity and not due to the behaviour of corvids.

I believe that to increase the songbird and farmland bird populations we need changes in woodland and farmland management to restore habitat and improve food supplies for bird species. Increasing the number of farmers that join the Higher Stewardship level (not just the Entry Level Stewardship)would also have a beneficial positive effect.

What also concerns me is that in the future the Songbird Survival Trust may start calling for a cull of birds of prey including protected species.

If you feel strongly about the proposed corvid cull please sign the petition at this website (many apologies for some reason I still can't seem to be able to insert links that work)



http://www.thepetitionsite.com/8/stop-the-cull-of-crows-and-magpies/

Many thanks to "Tales from a Wessex Reiver" who wrote an excellent post yesterday on this issue and drew it to my attention. See link on the right.