Badgers of Mass Destruction - Revisited!

It was in July 2012 that I first wrote this article and at that time the badger cull was intending to start in the autumn of 2012. However they were problems with the count of the number of badgers present and the cull was delayed for another year. Caroline Spelman left and Owen Paterson arrived, new counts  carried out but now Owen Paterson claimed the Badgers moved the goalposts!

Badgers of Mass Destruction - July 2012.

The parallels between Tony Blair and Iraq and the Badgers and bTB are quite simply astounding with both science, intelligence and common sense being completely manipulated to suit the needs of the premier cause of “it’s all the fault of the Badger”. The government is simply pandering to the needs of farmers as they need a scapegoat, someone to blame for there poor husbandry and the flawed technology involved in cattle testing on many farms.

New scientific research published (ref 1) by the Agrifood and Biosciences Institute (NI) that co-infection with other pathogens (e.g. common liver fluke) suppresses cows' immune response to bTB so can give false negatives during bTB testing. Hence the bTB test can fail to diagnose bTB and bTB-infected animals will remain in the herd leading to further herd breakdowns which farmers, Caroline Spelman & DEFRA so readily blame on badgers.

Organisations like the National Farmers’ Union, the Countryside Alliance and the Country Land and Business Association, believe that the only people who live in the countryside who have a say on this matter are the farmers and landowners. Now with the chairman of Natural England and the DEFRA minster both farmers, it should comes as no surprise that the badger cull will proceed on the highly selected and massaged piece of science presented to the British media. Just like Tony Blair over the Iraq war the Cattle Barron's lead by the Nation Farmers Union have created a case for “Badgers For Mass Destruction”. This is where science has been filtered and the media spin put on the nasty vile badgers who cost the tax payers millions of pounds in dealing with this badger infecting cattle problem. They are all singing from the same hymn book as they know that this coalition government will deliver to the farmers and landowners what they want; wether it be the removal of vets from the slaughter process, reduction on food safety ‘red tape’ and of course the agricultural subsidies which go to about 1% of the well heeled rural population.

By allowing this cull to take place DEFRA, Caroline Spelman and this animal hostile government is in effect creating a new Blood Sport; ‘Badger Shooting’ which seems likely to increase perturbation and as a direct result the level of bTB in cattle will rise and like all Blood Sport groups they will claim that its all part of the countryside management plan.

Now early badger vaccination trials were very promising, so why has the Government cut back on vaccine research which is where the long-term solution lies, free of all the negative impacts of perturbation and public anger at the shooting of one of our protected species?

Natural England was supposed to look after and manage the relationship between who owns and farms the countryside and the wildlife and natural beauty that so many of us want to enjoy. But now Natural England is all ready to issue licences to shoot badgers to the minority rural pressure groups that have instigated this bloody cull.

- - - - - - - - - - - - THAT WAS 2012 - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Now two years later and two more Environment Minsters and we still have the brand new environment Minster seeking to continue the lie and push ahead for the Mass Destruction of badgers because farmers will not accept the science and the Environment Minster will only accept a political solution that keeps her parties countryside voters in place for the general election.

Now the NFU has been saying that this disease is killing British farming, but here we are two years down the line and the second year of the cull trial is about to start. The cull cannot be rolled out to other areas as its a complete and utter mess and classified by the Independent Expert Panel as ineffective, but will continue purely as a face saving exercise for DEFRA and the NFU. The Badgers must die so we can keep our jobs.

But Labour opposition MPs said they were "appalled" Ms Truss intended to continue a "discredited, unscientific, inhumane and ineffective" badger cull. The pilot culls in 2013 were assessed by an Independent Expert Panel (IEP) as ineffective, so in 2014 the IEP will not be used, the Environment Agency don’t want the truth to get out! 

Liz All Trussed-Up Paterson
Female Minster in Place for the General Election

When challenged in the Commons by Labour's Maria Eagle, the shadow environment secretary, to guarantee the IEP's inclusion - Ms Truss said: "The reality is that bovine TB represents a massive threat to our dairy and beef industries and we need to look at the best scientific evidence”. 

Labour's Maria Eagle: Policy Needs to be Based on Sound Science!

But just like the NFU, farmers and DEFRA, stating that science will play no part in the culling of badgers.

Now Liz Truss has been given the job because David Cameron needed to increase the number of female cabinet members in the run up to the general election and Ms Truss’s role as Environment Minster has been all sewn up by the NFU and Owen Paterson.

It really is a case of Liz Trussup Paterson the most ineffective minister in government?

Recently Melanie Squires, the SW Regional Director of the NFU, gave the following opinion in the local press: “Scientists won’t solve the bovine TB crisis in Britain.” Again the problem is all in the name: bovine TB, bovine means cattle; its cattle problem and needs to be sorted out in cattle.

According to the World Health Organisation one third of the world's human population is infected with tuberculosis which spreads when infectious people cough, sneeze or spit into the air.  Between 5% and 10% of those infected will become sick or infectious sometime during their life. 

Thirty five years ago MAFF officials (before it was called DEFRA) were asking the question, "Can badgers transmit TB to cattle?"   The answer was, "We don't know, but we we think they might be able to".

Now it is pretty obvious how infected cattle can transmit bovine TB to badgers, because badgers snuffle around for grubs and earthworms in infected cow-pats and slurry-soaked pasture and it is easy to see how intensively reared cattle, who communicate with each other by breathing up each others' noses, can spread this respiratory disease to other cattle. Since MAFF asked that question many years ago they quickly concluded that the vector of infection from badger to cattle is so small it can ignored.

So how can the problem to solved, well its all down to money, someone will have to pay for the bio-security improvements need on farms as industrial farming takes hold and its clear farmers do not want to do that; this is the real reason why a badger cull is so popular with them. In addition I can never understand the reasons for the buying and selling of cattle resulting in the very high number of cattle movements taking place; the highest in europe. Is it really necessary to have all this cattle movement taking place? Yes restock but why have cattle markets for farms under TB restrictions?

Over 13 Millions Cattle Movements per Year!

Why, Oh why are so many cattle being moved around the country when the bovine TB testing methods are weak and error prone.