The compensation that has been payed to Farmers affected is approaching 1 Billion pounds.

Think this only affects two areas SW England and South Wales

Because their numbers are not controlled so the disease is allowed to run riot.

Deer also carry bovine TB,but there are a lot of deer stalkers in this country keeping them to manageable levels.

Wow, what a different life you all lead there.

We have Badgers, we dont have Bovine TB (At least I've never heard of it) They're mostly left alone, as they're mostly never seen, though people shoot them now and then (my grandfather HATED them with a passion, do not ask me why, and killed every one he ever saw... same as porcupines)

People shoot animals here, Hunting is a major part of Conservation. I personally used to hunt, started when I was 14. the only thing stopping me from hunting now is lack of room for a deep freeze, and I wont kill something I wont eat, well, except gophers and porcupines, and the latter I only did when I worked at a tree farm and they got inside the game fence... they would do well over $100 000 damage in one winter.

It happens, it makes for a less stressed population, and it slows the spread of disease. As long as it's done with health of the population at the forefront.

And yeah, we've wrecked the balance of nature, but there's nothing to be done about that, except for a major cull on humans.... and that wont happen, so we have to do the best we can with the resources available to us.

But then there is no point to it. You only need just ONE badger theoretically to infect a whole herd. To stop badgers infecting cattle with TB you would have to kill every single badger in the UK, in other words wipe them out, which is of course unethical and totally unacceptable.

I disagree entirely with killing badgers. The problem lies with man, not with badgers or indeed with the bovines. Man has bred has bred pedigree herds more and more intensively, weakening their immune systems, so that they have no resistance to TB.

No you dont understand.To reduce their numbers lessens the chance of an infected badger getting to cattle.Yes infected badgers will escape being shot because visually you cannot tell one from another,but those who do still carry TB have less chance of comming into contact with non infected badgers.

DEFRA just want them managed to ensure healthy animals.

Badgers also prey on other animals, such as hedgehogs, which are in growing need of some help as their numbers carry on decreasing. Badgers are not rare, and controlling their numbers will not be detrimental to the population overall. If a side effect is that the spread of TB is proven to be controlled, everyone's a winner.

Working on the railways, I've seen absolutely ridiculous amounts of money spent on the infrastructure, just to allow badgers to remain on an embankment, and great crested newts to live in a culvert. My mother's pond has great crested newts living in it in the middle of York, and as for badgers, they are so numerous in some areas that hedgehogs have been wiped out. My friends down in Wiltshire have a huge population of badgers surrounding their bit of the countryside, in their words, about the only useful thing they've done is get rid of all the wasps nests on/under ground.

Just because we have, as a population, caused problems with the ecology and allowed the various balance of nature to become out of control, doesn't mean at this point we should stand back and allow nature to now take it's course. For me, it's about achieving a best balance of nature, if that means erradicating alien species like mink, I'm all for it, and trying to ensure native species can thrive in numbers that ensure a healthy population overall.

I have a question. If Sara living in Canada says they have badgers and yet the cattle don't have TB, then surely that proves my point about the culling trials??

If badgers carry TB what is it that they do to the cattle to pass it on to them then? I thought badgers were pretty secluded animals, not venturing far from their dens, so why would they want to go interferring with the farmer's cows? I just don't get it you see! If it is purely for the fact that they walk through the field, then heck, so does everything else then that MAY carry TB - surely?!

WHY are badgers the chosen breed for the TB virus then?

Questions, questions, question lol! Reminds me of when I was 4 years old and my grandma said to me "why, why, why, you always want to know why" and it seems I still do!!

Badgers wander quite a lot further from their setts, I've seen them up on a grouse moor even.

In close proximity with cattle, the virus is spread more easily, and obviously, currently, with the sheer numbers of badgers, this makes the spread of the virus even easier. The badgers don't have to do anything, except be there in sufficient numbers, this link explains it in detail:

http://www.tbfreeengland.co.uk/?gcli...FVBTfAodpAmKSw

The OH went on a shoot up in North Yorkshire recently, where the owners have a badger sett on their land, which is close enough to the house for them to see the badgers coming and going. They're not a problem, the owners enjoy seeing them and have encouraged them to stay. They've managed to set up a bench so in the summer, they can sit out and watch them, and apparently the badgers have become used to them.

At other times, I've heard of farmers being reported for simply putting up a fence to try and ensure livestock and themselves, aren't at risk from badger excavations.

They pass it onto cattle through their faeces/urine Helen which is deposited onto the grass which the cows eat.Then the cows deposit their waste onto the grass and inturn infects badgers digging in the soil-its a nether ending cycle.

Why are badgers the chosen carrier? They're not-deer carry it as well,but they have their population managed (deer stalking) so it never becomes a problem.Infact landowners are legally obliged to manage large deer numbers and if they dont the goverment will employ stalkers to cull herds...then bill the landowner!

Like i said previously,badgers have been protected since the early 70's and have no natural predator so their numbers have increased dramatically.

With regards about Canada-its a possibility that Canadian cattle are fed mostly grain inside sheds instead of grazing on grass or maybe they simply have never had a problem with TB because badgers are routinley shot.

totally agree with this. great post.