UK- England - Badgers to be culled in 2012

[Gert van der Hoek]

excerpt

Farmers to be handed powers to cull badgers

06 Sep 2010

Farmers will be handed powers to slaughter badgers as part of a widespread cull in England aimed at halting the spread of tuberculosis in cattle herds.



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More than 150,000 cattle have been slaughtered in the last decade because of bovine TB, according to the National Farmers? Union, and the crisis cost the Treasury ?90m in compensation payments last year.

But a decade-long study by the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB concluded in 2007 that culling could not ?meaningfully? control the disease because it displaces badgers, scattering them over a wider area.


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Scientific opinion remains divided over the effectiveness of a cull. Sir David King, the former chief scientist to the government, believes it is the "best option available at the moment to reduce the reservoir of infection in wildlife".

But research from Imperial College London and the Zoological Society of London suggested earlier this year that, while repeated culling of badgers reduced the incidence of TB in cattle, the benefits disappeared four years after the programme ended.

full article

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: UK- England - Badgers to be culled in the areas worst affected by bovine tuberculosis

Bovine TB in the UK and other European countries (and USA) seems to be mainly an economic problem. In low-income countries it is a human health problem.

For some more background on Bovine TB in the UK and the ongoing discussion on the role of badgers, read this excellent blog of Mike Coston:

Badgers? We Don?t Need No Stinkin? Badgers!

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: UK- England - Badgers to be culled in the areas worst affected by bovine tuberculosis

Badger culling will go ahead in 2012

Caroline Spelman says there is no alternative but to approve culls, in an attempt to reduce number of cattle contracting bovine TB



Damian Carrington
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 December 2011

Thousands of badgers will be shot in England from autumn 2012 in an attempt to reduce the numbers of cattle slaughtered after contracting bovine tuberculosis (TB), the environment secretary announced on Wednesday.

Compensation costs for slaughtered cattle would run up to £1bn in the next 10 years, Caroline Spelman said, meaning there was no alternative but to approve the culls. But opponents rejected government claims that the cull was science-led, arguing instead for vaccinations, and said it would incur policing and legal bills of millions of pounds as protesters targeted the cull sites and challenged the plans in the courts. More than 100,000 people signed petitions opposing the plans in October.

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