I actually disagree - I think it would be a far better thing if humans were culled (not advocating mass slaughter, just making a logical observation). What arrogance to think that we have the right as a species to **** up the balance and then having ****** it up, take on the role of population controller!!

Lol !!

Yes, I agree. It is a sad fact of life unfortunately.

Such language!

I never said it was ok to mess up the balance, but it is a fact: we, as a species, have removed native predators like the Wolf from Britain (as an example) and as a consequence we have to take on the role of that predator by controlling Deer numbers. Whether you agree with it is irrelevant: it is necessary.

I think too that the Canadian/North American badger species is different to our British ones, so therefore may have different habits or simply not carry TB at all.

In fact I believe we are somewhat unique in the UK with our badgers.... in Europe they are the same species but solitary and territorial, meaning they do not have large setts and don't live communally as ours do. This means badger numbers are much lower, and far easier to control if necessary (remember, they also have the threat of rabies in many countries meaning they needs to be culled occasionally in times of an outbreak).

Parts of Somerset where I live were featured in a badger/TB study which went on for many years starting in the late 60's or early 70's I think. they had areas where the badgers were left undisturbed - areas where some were culled - and other areas where they were totally eradicated.

Ironically they discovered that where badgers were culled, the TB rates got higher.... because new badgers move in to take over the territories of culled ones, and brought TB with them. So a cull may not really be the answer.

There will be a big fight over this in my area - one of the largest badger populations is right in the middle of an organic farm who will likely stand very firmly against any form of cull.

It does beg the question, why can't the badgers be given some sort of protection against TB....? They are routinely given Rabies vaccine-laced food in high-risk rabies countries.

Very good post

and that's another question I had too!

Re vaccinations, this is the answer given from the link I posted earlier in the thread.

The NFU fully supports the development of vaccines for badgers. We believe that vaccines will play a role in the long term eradication of bTB.

However, at the moment the only vaccine available is an injectable form. This means that you need to cage trap the badgers to vaccinate them which is practically very challenging and has to be done annually for period of at least five years.

It is also cost prohibitive to trap and vaccinate badgers using the current vaccine as it requires investment in traps and bait and vaccination must be done by people that have been on accredited courses.

Every trap will have to be visited early in the morning every day that the traps are set. Estimates being used by other organisations suggest this that this could cost as much as £4,000 per km2 per year and must be repeated for at least five years before we could expect to see any meaningful benefit. Click here for more information on badger vaccination on the National Trust's website.

More importantly there are still question marks over the efficacy of the vaccine. There are questions for instance about its effectiveness in badgers that are already infected with bTB, ie it will not cure those badgers already infected. Furthermore, the science suggests that the vaccine is most effective in very young animals and less effective in mature animals.

Young badgers spend their early weeks in the sett, making it impossible to trap and vaccinate them and putting them at risk of infection before they emerge. Also there is still no evidence that shows that vaccinating a proportion of the badger population actually results in a reduced risk to cattle.

We believe that an oral bait vaccine is likely to offer the most successful vaccination programme for badgers. Unfortunately, this option is still some years away from being able to form part of a badger control plan because there is no licensed or proven oral vaccine currently available.

If you take a look at the link I posted earlier, it answers many of the questions people have been asking, and there are useful links through to other websites regarding badgers, tb and the control of this virus.

Wouldn't it be easier to vaccinate the cattle against TB? Afterall they are used to being brought in and vets and things like that, it would mean the Badgers live and the TB is isolated.. or maybe I'm just coming up with an impossible solution..

You may as well just destroy the cattle, it becomes impossible to tell the difference between an infected beast, and one that's been vaccinated, all these questions are on the website link