The Badger Cull - A Wake up Call Dairy and Meat Products and the Welfare of the Animals

One thing for sure that the current debate regarding the Badger Cull raises is the fact that people are looking more closely at what they eat. This year alone we have had the horse meat scandal in which answers are not forth coming at present and the continuing wish for many in the farming sector to proceed at all costs with the extended Badger Cull for the next 25 years with legal gassing as a further cheaper option under consideration!

The police are working closely with the NFU Sponsored Shooters.

The shooting of free running badgers was pushed through by pro-hunt mad Environment Minster Owen Paterson who has very close links with the Countryside Alliance, so job done and another blood sport has been created for alliance members. With the low number of badgers in the cull zones perhaps due to the illegal gassing by farmers and current gassing research being undertaken by DEFRA, one wonders who is driving this debate, the NFU?

The madness continues as numbers are made up with cage trapping of badgers and then shooting them! Now just about everyone else using cage trapping is vaccinating the captured badgers, who probably got infected by bTB from cattle, but no not the NFU and the farmers; out comes the 12 bore shotgun and they are blasted around the farmyard. And guess what some farmers may be receiving grants as part of a ‘Countryside Guardianship’ scheme, this is complete madness and we are as taxpayers footing the bill and having no say in the process. 

This is a bit like the National Union of Shop Workers (NUSW) being give the authority to determine the opening hours for all high street and retail park shops, you just could not make it up! 

This Mall is Under Control of the NUSW

But here we have the NFU under the leadership of Kim Jong Kendall dictating to both DEFRA and Natural England that farmers want the badgers culled and vaccination is not an option for them, no badger or cattle vaccination will take place under there watch. The NFU is basically a Trade Association for large estates and farms and represents around 18% of all farmers, it is unelected and unaccountable, but is not short of money!

With the advances in technology and the economies of scale we all need to take stock of what we are prepared to accept in our life style. The science says we need to eat more plant food as the strains of meat production affects our climate.

The welfare of the animals, the environment, our moral position and the science states we need to change and change soon and doing nothing is no longer an option.

Who Is Going To Be A Prize Turkey This Christmas and Buy From British Farmers?

Regarding this Badger Cull I have to say that the true motivations behind the cull is only the tip of the iceberg with this government; as within days of taking office they cancelled 5 out of 6 vaccination programs that the previous government had set up. Was this a simple cost cutting measure and done in the ignorance of the high policing costs that has resulted for the two pilot culls, which could have been used effectively to vaccinate thousands of health badgers!

The Cull Money Could Have Vaccinated Thousands of Health Badgers!

The Badger Cull was only implemented by Owen Paterson because of his loyalty to the Countryside Alliance and the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) and with the NFU having a complete and totally undemocratic stranglehold on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) where the science is being rewritten to suit this feudal blood thirsty minority. 

Owen Paterson, who is behind this badger cull, has always thought that the shooting of foxes is not humane and we lack the marksmen to shoot them. This was in defense of hunting foxes with hounds. So surely that means that we don’t have enough marksmen for shooting badgers humanely? 

Because of the badgers anatomy it is potentially more difficult to free-shoot a badger in a quick humane way than, say a fox or a deer. There is a real fear that many animals will be injured rather than killed quickly and humanely, and could suffer a slow, painful death as a result. But then the reluctance for the shooting of foxes may be because of Peterson’s loyalty to the fox hunting wishes of the Countryside Alliance. The word hypocrisy comes to mind in his reasoning.

Owen Paterson Write Exclusively for the Countryside Alliance.

But in all of this farmers have been lead by the nose and short changed by the NFU and the Tories. Culling badgers will not work and will only serve to further alienate there already impatient customer base, driving more and more people away from dairy and meat products on both health and animal welfare grounds.

Why the NFU are now pushing for a reduction in the ‘red tape’, stating that the farming industry knows best and will work better without too much Civil Service interference and silly rules and regulations that are designed to protect our food chain. I think with previous farming disasters like Mad Cow, Foot & Mouth, bovine TB, millions of unnecessary cattle movements and the recent horse meat scandal. That the last thing this industry needs is a reduction in our food production standards and environmental controls. We are already eating bovine infected cattle without being consulted or informed; the right to know about what we are eating by honest labeling has been taken away from us; we are treated with so much contempt by the NFU.

Horse on the Hoof – Countryside Alliance Demo Outside the Labour Party Conference

Make a Statement Any Way - Life No Object!

But the worst is yet to come according to Richard Haddock, Chairman of the Conservative Rural Affairs Group as he pushes Owen Paterson to roll out the next ten cull zones, with continued shooting and the possibility of using the cheaper option of gassing badger setts as an option to what one can only call mass exterminate the badger population using the most advanced technology available. Vaccination is just not an option for the NFU to consider, even with an oral option expected within the next few years. The rush is on to eliminate Mr. Brock from the countryside and Mr. Haddock has commented on  the Wounded Badger Patrols and Somerset Badger Patrols as just a mere sides show and I assume that the over 3000,000 people that signed Brian May’s Save Me petition don’t matter either, they are just misguided idiots to be ignored!

However the cull can never succeed as ‘Middle England’ is against this cull and they have the support of the Scots, Welsh and Irish on this matter. You only have to had visited the cull zones to determine that people from all these countries are coming together to help ‘Middle England’ protect her badgers and why? Simply because it’s wrong and unjust and being carried out by an unelected feudal minority groups who are not accountable but have great exercise of power through their friends in government. If the next ten zones are rolled out then the police will have to start a massive recruitment drive as more and more people flock to join the Badger Patrols in Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Hereford and Wilshire to name just a few. All this taxpayers’ money and police effort to appease an unelected and unaccountable Trade Organisation that goes by the name NFU who just want to shift the blame onto an iconic member of our natural environment and a star of many wildlife programs.

Why only the other day a government farm inspector who on her private Twitter account as home had tweeted critical animal welfare comments about the badger cull has been sacked after the NFU complained to ministers about her views. She had worked for the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) since 2001, visiting farms to ensure claims for agricultural grants were not being falsified! This is a win-win situation for the NFU as another anti-cull voice muted and fewer farm checks on them will be carried out!

The NFU have now joined the Countryside Alliance with the onslaught against the RSPCA and no one it seems is allowed to be the companionate voice of our wildlife. As the Countryside Alliance shooters bang away at wildfowl the RSPB is told to sod off with its comments regarding lead shot pollution and the RSPCA told to sod off and look after the cats and dogs on housing estates, you are not welcome in the countryside. Anyway the sheep you see limping are not lame but partaking in there funny walk now “Get off my bloody land you peasant”!

Golden Eagle Poisoned near Grouse Shooting Estate in Scotland

Wildlife Crime Officer with Dead Golden Eagle

Taunton the county town of Somerset is a hub of blood sports activity, with the Blackbrook location at the M5 J25, of critical interest as its home of the law firm Clarke Willmott which acts as agents for the Countryside Alliance. As lawyer Jamie Foster defends local hunting cases and is right next door to the NFU building. Also DEFRAs Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) also use this location for its staff overseeing the badger cull, a truly vortex of a holy trinity of badger blood! I assume bath and bed at the Holiday Inn after a bloody night of Badger Burning!

Dead Badgers Burnt and not Tested for Bovine TB

Why Did They Need to Die?

It was several centuries ago that the church use to offer a penny reward for any dead foxes or badgers brought to the local clergy. The church was heavily into slavery also at that point in time. Now with the current Archbishop Justin Welby turning down the role of Vice Paton of the RSPCA we are now finding out the true reason for the abandonment of the RSPCA by the Archbishop. One can only assume that he was advised by his Eton chums at Westminster to step aside away from the RSCPA as it’s about to be destroyed by the heavily financed  and armed armies of the Countryside Alliance and the NFU.

What the NFU have instigated for the police in this process is a role to protect the killers of a protected species the badger. Is this perhaps the British Farming Industries greatest public relations disaster! 

The independence of the police is now called into question; Gloucestershire Constabulary has been partially affected and has probably undone many years of outreach effort engaging with local communities. Avon & Somerset has fared better but many will start to analyse the police actions and there closeness to the NFU. As I understand that at the nightly police briefings officers were given a list of vehicle registrations to look out for and conduct stop and search activities to impend the movement of Badger Patrols as these were the vehicles associated with people attending the Badger Patrols. This, I understand was to allow the NFU hired shooters to kill as many badgers as possible while patrol members were tied up with the police as they inspected the colour of lamps vehicles were using or the number or tires on each vehicle.

To have the NFU exert such control over police operations can only be a sign that our democracy is like the badgers blood seeping away from us. The NFU is nothing more that a Trade Association that seeks to fulfill the demands of rich farmers and so should have no control of our police forces.

Could This Be Some of the NFU Badger Cull Security?

The bovine TB crises is the direct result of the actions of DEFRA and the NFU where they have failed to manage the spread of bovine TB by refusing to invest and support vaccine programs for both badgers and cattle. For failing to implement good bio-security measures and implement an enforceable cattle movement regime and most critically failing to invest to improved TB testing, which is quite simply a joke within the industry. They have allowed the disease to seep into the surrounding wildlife population and now they want to scapegoat the badger, symbol of all the Wildlife Trusts. The shear arrogance to these people, culling badgers is a waste of time, money and precious life and will not work as the science has proved.

Perhaps now is the time for the NFU to instigate and pay for a nationwide badger vaccine program to repair the damage they have inflected onto the countryside. However I suspect that those so closely involved will blissfully allow the badger cull poison seep into the Conservative party. At least until someone realises that the support from ‘Middle England’ slowly slipping away, with Caring Conservatism totally at odds with Gassing Badgers and the ritual butchering of our native wildlife.

The Polluter Should Pay for the clean-up of the mess they made!

The Shameful Somerset Farming Minster (Lib Dem)

During the early stages of the coalition the Department of Environment was exclusively run my the Tories, first Caroline Spelman whom after the mess of the forest sell off campaign was replaced by blood sports mad Owen Paterson. This ministry which includes DEFRA has always been controlled by farmers and country landowners with no Liberal Democratic representation. That was until Somerset own David Heath was appointed as the farming minster a year ago almost to the day. A breakthrough one might have though in the area where the big lobbying groups like the National Farmers Union (NFU) and the County Land and Business Association (CLA) have there tentacles all over, both here and in the EU regarding subsidies.

David Heath had an opportunity of a lifetime to impose his mark and that of his party as a former Somerset pig farmer and an Oxford science graduate. He could have questioned the science and political muscle behind this badger cull.

Mr Heath’s boss, Owen Paterson is already pushing for the exploration of fraking, GM crops and of course the badger cull which he intends to roll out across most of the country as soon as possible. Mr Patterson also writes exclusively for the Countryside Alliance and hence heavily associated with the dark evil motives behind this badger cull, where our wildlife is compromised for the sake of countryside profits and countryside pursuits.

The Cowardly David Heath (Lib Dem)

With his life in rural Somerset and a graduate of Oxford with an MA in Physiological Science, David Heath was well placed to confront the politics and science behind this cull. But alas no, he has shown himself like other Liberal Democrat MP’s to be week and spineless in tackling the extremes of right wing Tories who have an agenda so far removed from reality.

Owen Paterson and the powerful NFU (which is unelected quango who represent only 18% of British farmers), are in the process of slaughtering between 5,500 and 7,000 badgers. This in spite of all the published science being against this approach. This slaughter will continue over the next 25 years and will attempt to wipe out at least 130,000 of our native badgers.

  

All I was expecting from Mr Heath as the farming minster was to look at the science and observe that bovine TB rates have actually been falling since January, 2013. This is when better bio-security measures were finally enforced. But cattle movements still remain very high and need further investigation as to why so many take place.

Only 1.7% of badgers actually have a strain of TB serious enough to possibly infect cattle and as the science states, most infection is being passed via the cattle-to-cattle route.

Only 0.5% of the national herd is actually bTB infected at the moment. Yet healthy animals are being routinely slaughtered and farmers compensated and as always at huge expense to the taxpayer. In addition of the animals slaughtered last year 28,400 carcasses were sent straight back into the human food chain!  This makes a complete hypocrisy of the culling of both cattle and badgers. Slaughterhouses are simply being told to remove any visible bovine TB lesions! The government is making its money back this way and telling us the meat is safe and still Mr heath you say nothing and you do nothing!

The cull zone in West Somerset has almost no cows in it but there are plenty of hunting lodges up there and big agri-businesses developing bio fuels for profit over wildlife.

Mr Heath you were expected to examine the situation and argue the case based on sound science, instead you have behaved like an dithering old man who turns up at a family wedding and is told to sit down quietly out of the way and only comment on how lovely the couple look when asked!

These Badger Culls serve no-one but the undemocratic, feudal minority who believe they are above the law of the land and what you have allowed to happen by your inactivity Mr Heath is nothing short of a national scandal.

If anyone ever need proof that why the Lib Dems are unsuitable as coalition partners then they need to look no further than David Heath as the farming minster. Who is effective as a dead sheep on a remote hillside farm in this debate. Shame on you Mr Heath and shame on what you have inflected on the country of Somerset and on the country of Gloucestershire.

The Countryside Alliance is Now Running the Badger Cull!

The Countryside Alliance’s hand in this bloody badger cull is beginning to emerge with Guy Robinson who was previously the head of political research at the Countryside Alliance has been appointed to support the Blood Sports mad Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, who writes exclusively for the Countryside Alliance magazine. 

Mr. Robinson was working for Lynton Crosby’s company; and Lynton Crosby himself has been put in charge of the Tory election machine to get the Tories elected with a working majority at the next general election. Mr. Crosby's PR and lobbying firm Crosby Textor has long-standing links with the tobacco industry and its recent successes have included the dumping of the planned introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes and promoting a powerful group that campaigns for fracking in the UK with government provided tax relief.

The Countryside Alliance is a political pressure group working to overturn the hunting ban and promote blood sports in the countryside and has been very active in a smear offensive against the RSPCA following the society’s successful conviction for illegal hunting against the Prime Ministers local Fox Hunt. They have also been at loggerheads with the RSPB over the use of lead polluting ammunition used for game bird and water fowl shooting!

Now if you look at the locations of the two badger cull zones in West Somerset and Gloucestershire; both these locations are home too many pheasant shooting estates and are awash with an array eager and keen of blood sports enthusiasts all to ready to participate in the cull. 

They are various other grouping within the countryside that has the view that wildlife is a nuisance and the badger in particular in relation to the many pheasant shoots. 

With the advent of solar farms and bio-fuel crops being developed, then in the rush for quick profits the overarching desire is to have no legally protected species of wildlife for many countryside businesses, it simply gets in the way of profits.

Hunting, shooting, snaring and poisoning are the traditional wildlife management techniques deployed and why should they be force to change; “it’s our tradition!” is the usual cry for the indefensible actions that they deploy against our wildlife.

But perhaps the worst aspect of the Badger Cull is the way that the shooting has been allocated to private companies and then to individuals. These companies are then able to recruit the local blood sports hobbyists, who generally tend to be members of the Countryside Alliance and so the circle of evil is complete.

A Bloody Holy Trinity of Un-Natural England, National Farmers Union and DEFRA have baked together in Hell this wicked and unnecessary Badger Cull with the Countryside Alliance emerging as the “Prince of Darkness’” in the English countryside!

It’s all in the name Bovine (Cattle) TB – It’s a Cattle Problem, Created by Farmers!

If anyone has any concerns about the political motivations behind this cruel and pointless badger cull one only has to look that the people who are pushing the agenda.

The NFU are desperate to shift the blame onto the badgers to avoid the necessary bio-security and cattle movement measures that will be required to properly control the spread of bovine TB, both in cattle and the wildlife at large.

Since the first bovine TB infected badger was found in 1971 it is now considered that with the massive industrialisation of the farming industry has resulted in the spread bovine TB into the wildlife and farmers are now conducting a desperate damage limitation exercise by pointing the finger of blame at the badger. Bovine TB can affect not only badgers but also pigs, rabbits, deer, foxes, ferrets, mink, rats, cats and dogs; so should we start and cull all these species also?

For the NFU gone is the notion that the polluter should pay for the clean-up costs for the contamination they are responsible for. The farmers do not want to contribute a penny for the bovine TB that has seeped from their farms into the countryside and associated wildlife left alive around the farm. Instead they seek to destroy the wildlife using our money in a vain attempt to shift the blame.

People need to consider very carefully if they want to support an industry that will eventually wipe out our native wildlife using our money and giving us no say whatsoever in the process, trotting out the old adage that “we do not understand the countryside and its ways”. Perhaps if they were financial pressures on the farming industry then the dictatorship of the policy currently emerging from the NFU would be challenged. 

With this debate regarding the badger cull we should consider it as a nuclear leak at say Hinckley Point power station, but unlike the nuclear power company, which would be forced to take responsibility for the contamination we the taxpayer are being forced to pick up the bill for the spread of bovine TB into our wildlife and then pay to have our wildlife killed as a result of the farmers messy industry and reluctance to spend money on much needed farm improvements and unregulated cattle movements.

The Countryside Alliance’s hand in this bloody badger cull is beginning to emerge with Guy Robinson who was previously the head of political research at the Countryside Alliance, being appointed to support the Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, who is a keen blood sports supporter and writes exclusively for the Countryside Alliance. This makes sense when you look at both cull zones in West Somerset and West Gloucestershire; both centers are home too many pheasant shooting estates and awash with an array of blood sports enthusiasts. The Countryside Alliance is a political pressure group working to overturn the hunting ban and promote blood sports in the countryside and Mr. Robinson was working for Lynton Crosby’s company; and Lynton Crosby has been put in charge of the Tory election machine to get the Tories elected with a working majority at the next general election. 

The Countryside Alliance has been very active in a smear offensive against the RSPCA following the society’s successful conviction for illegal hunting against the Prime Ministers Fox Hunt and they have also been a loggerheads with the RSPB over the use of lead polluting ammunition used for game bird and water fowl shooting, a game they call wildlife conservation and they make a big blasting noise about it!

They are various grouping within the countryside that has the view that wildlife as a nuisance and the badger in particular in relation to pheasant shoots. More generally in the rush for quick profits as solar farms and bio-fuel cropts are developed the overarching desire to have no legally protected wildlife is a goal for many countryside businesses. Hunting, shooting, snaring and poisoning are the traditional wildlife management techniques deployed and why should they be force to change; “it’s our tradition!” is the usual cry for the indefensible actions that they deploy against the wildlife.

Each day this cull continues more and more people will switch away from British farm products as this it is the only tangible way to register their protest.

We cannot be continually fed these lies about bovine TB and how the number of badgers is out of control. For the health of the nation we need to eat less dairy products and if we eat meat we need to know what meat it is; either horse or bovine TB infected beef!  

Sanctions leveled against our own farming industry would appear the only way forward at present as the unquestioned spin emerges for both DEFRA and the NFU and blindly supported by Ministers who should have at least questioned what was being asked of them, I refer to David Heath in particular with having a boss like Owen Patterson, just burring his head in the sand can only work for a short period of time.

The thought that a Conservative government with a working majority would be in place as this badger cull is rolled out to many other areas would leave the country well and truly divided. The countryside will be awash with hunters and shooters and very little natural wildlife would be left. We may even see the revamping of BBC’s SpringWatch and AutumnWatch as an all embracing HuntWatch where most of the badgers will be dead and the foxes breed for hunting - a brave new countryside!

Otter Hunting - Will It Make A Return?

But perhaps the worst aspect of the Badger Cull is the way that the shooting has been allocated to private companies. These companies are then able to recruit the local lampers, terrier-men, gamekeepers and general blood sports hobbyists.

A Holy Trinity of Natural England, National Farmers Union and DEFRA have baked together in Hell this Bloody Badger Cull.

Unless these culls are stopped soon the National Farmers Union will have created a new blood sport based on ‘Badger Baiting’ but this time with peanuts laced with treacle placed around the badger setts and the shooters lined up to pick them off as the iconic badger, emblem of all the Wildlife Trusts emerges from his sett to enjoy a night of foraging. This is what the Badger has done since the dawn of the Ice Age and now to be shot “free range” simply to appease the dirty farmer.

Now is the time to ditch the dairy and save the badger.

The Countryside Alliance and the Badger Cull

If anyone has any concerns about the political motivations behind the mad, bad badger cull one only has to look that the people who are pushing the adgenda.

The NFU are desperate to shift the blame onto the badgers to avoid the necessary bio-security measures that will be required to control the spread of bovine TB, both in cattle and the wildlife at large.

Since the first bovine TB infected badger was found in 1971 it is now considered that with the massive industrialisation of the farming industry this has resulted in the spread bovine TB into the wildlife and farmers are now conducting a damage limitation exercise by pointing the finger at the badger. Bovine TB can effect not only badgers but also pigs, rabbits, deer, foxes, ferrets, mink, rats, cats and dogs.

For the NFU gone is the notion that the polluter should pay for the clean-up costs for the mess they are responsible for. The farmers do not want to contribute a penny for the contamination that has seeped from there farms into the countryside. Instead they seek to destroy the wildlife in a vein attempt to shift the blame.

People need to consider very carefully if they want to support an industry that will eventually wipe out our native wildlife using our money and giving us no say in the process, trotting out the old adage that “we do not understand the countryside and it’s way”. 

With this debate we should consider it is rather like a nuclear leak at Hinckley Point power station, but unlike the power company which would be forced to take responsibility for the contamination we the taxpayer are being forced to pick up the bill for the spread of bovine TB into our wildlife and then have our wildlife killed as a result of the farmers messy industry and reluctance to spend money on improvements.

The Countryside Alliance’s hand in this bloody badger cull is beginning to emerge with Guy Robinson, previously head of political research at the Countryside Alliance,  being appointed to support Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, again a keen blood sports supporter who writes exclusively for the Countryside Alliance. 

Mr. Robinson was working for Lynton Crosby’s company; this company has been charged with getting the Tories elected with a working majority at the next election.

Each day this cull continues more and more people will switch away from British farm products as this it is the only way to register there protest, and the thought that a Conservative government would be in place as this badger cull is rolled out to many other areas. The countryside will be awash with hunters and shooters and very little natural wildlife. We may even see the revamping of SpringWatch and AutumnWatch as an all embracing HuntWatch where the badger will be dead and the foxes breed for hunting - a brave new countryside!

Wake up call on dairy products and the welfare of the animals!

One thing that the current debate regarding the Badger Cull is the fact that people are looking more closely at what they eat. This year alone we have had the horse meat scandal in which answers are not forth coming at present and the continuing wish for many in the farming sector to proceed at all costs with this Mad Cruel and Senseless Badger Cull.

There always was an uneasy truce between vegetarian and Vegan diets. Most pubs and restraints usually provide a vegetarian option in main meals and deserts. However health can sometimes be a more important factor is choosing a plant based diet than animal welfare concerns.

Ten years ago following a Vegan diet was difficult and only the really committed chose to follow that path, but with the more commonly used term ‘plant based’ diet then the desire and ability to give up both meat and dairy seems to sit more comfortably and perhaps shows up the weakness in the vegetarian options.

Don’t get me wrong, I still follow a vegetarian diet, but feel weak that I have so far failed to move over completely to the Vegan diet, but I am sure it’s only a matter of time. It was twenty years ago that I gave up smoking and look where we are today with smoking, barred in most public places.

With the advances in technology and the economies of scale we all need to take stock of what we are prepared to accept in our life style. The science says we need to eat more plant food but the science also says that we can have genetic modified animals that don’t feel pain so we can have even meat more on death row!

One thing for sure is the need to move more to a plant based diet and they are many ways to achieve this, I did hear the term VB6 and it made me laugh. It means Vegan Before Six, which means that, yes sure have you meat if you must but during the day try and be be plant based. 

The welfare of the animals, the environment, our moral position and the science state we need to change and to have a polarised smoker/non-smoker or round earth/flat earth debate is not helpful at present as there is a lot at stake.

It is so easy to turn a blind eye and do nothing:-

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” 

Edmund Burke