Predictable and no surprise to some of us...

Hi My only comment is,why interfere with Nature,Badgers, Foxes maintain there own level by natural means,Badgers will attack an old Badger,and sometimes they are found,Secret World found one,the injuries it had sustained was at first thought to be dogs but on closer inspection,the claw marks were a badger,this badger was old and had very bad teeth and wouldnt be able to eat,so the other badgers took the matter in their own hands.I was around in the late 70's when they were trying to put cianide down,it still hasnt been proved that the badger is a carrier of tb.
Gemini54

I think the floods on the Somerset Levels (the main culling area) have done the job for them.
Natures way??

I was neither pro nor anti this cull, I understand the views on both sides and it was always my hope that the cull would demonstrate that it doesn't work. In that way the death of these badgers would serve to protect others in the future. There are many opinions on both sides and the only way they will prove it to both sides is by carrying it out. What concerns me is that the protests (amongst other things) have prevented the cull of the necessary percentage of the badger population so I firmly expect that we'll be back here again in due course!

That's just not true ... A cull is totally pointless because it is impossible every single badger in a given area is killed, ipso facto all that happens is badgers are dispersed thus spreading tb further and further afield - exactly the opposite of what is wanted. Culling is totally unscientific and just plain wrong from a financial and moral point of view.

No - professor krebs as we'll

Hi I am not saying that this can be true,but this story about badgers carrying TB has never been proven,when I got involved with Badgers they are the only animal to build a latrine,and Secret World for the past 20years has tested Badgers no sign of lumps or TB.

What happens if we are looking in the wrong place,the answer could be in the feed given to bovines to change their meat for humans as they seem very fussy if the meat is to fatty,but fat gives meat taste,but now Supermarkets have a list of what they assume the paying public want,so things are added to the feed,to produce what they think is a perfect piece of meat.Leave well alone,and just maybe TB will not rear its ugly head, and badgers can live in peace.Gemini54

Whereas I personally think that badgers DO spread TB, I certainly do not think that this justifies culling them. We humans have caused the problem by breeding pedigree herds resulting in the cows having reduced immune systems. The answer to the problem of TB - and frankly, no-one has ever been able to explain to me WHY, when milk is pasteurised, TB in cattle is serious - must surely lie in breeding a more robust strain of milkers who have a natural resistance to TB. After all, badgers live quite happily with TB, it does not seem to harm them in any way.

Clearly, the cull has been a total and out and out failure. In every respect ... inhumane, ridiculously expensive, ineffective and most seriously of all, has been responsible for the SPREADING of TB by those badgers who escaped the guns fleeing in all directions to new and safer pastures.

And lastly, what an appalling example we are setting to third world countries who we are quite rightly encouraging to preserve their wildlife and not slaughter it for medicinal and other spurious reasons. This is gross hypocrisy at its very worst.