Bovine TB Blog

July 2011 - Posts

• Farmers will foot the bill ...

  ... for culling badgers for just 6 weeks annually, after they have had a 'closed season' of 6 months in which to breed. This might happen in a couple of mini pilot areas which the Secretary of State may be 'minded' to allow. But buried... Posted Jul 31 2011, 12:08 PM by Bovine TB Select Tags... SaveCancel [Edit Tags]

• Don't look - won't find ?

  Over the last several months, or even years, we have watched as the spillover of bTB has affected more and more domestic pets and companion mammals. One such group has proved to be highly susceptible to TB, hugely infectious and possible capable of forming... Posted Jul 21 2011, 01:53 AM by Bovine TB [Edit Tags]

• A (very) small step..

  .. was announced (reluctantly?) yesterday, by Secretary of State, Caroline Spelman. Two 'pilot' culls of badgers in hotspot areas, with locations decided by the farmers concerned, under licenses issued (at some point) by Natural England and monitored... Posted Jul 20 2011, 02:03 AM by Bovine TB [Edit Tags]

• Oral vaccination - dead in the water?

  Farmers Guardian report today that the much vaunted oral vaccine for badgers has hit several stumbling blocks. The story reports that Defra is understood to have conceded that the vaccine may now never reach the market and is, at best, ‘many more years... Posted Jul 14 2011, 01:09 PM by Bovine TB [Edit Tags]

• Short memories

  Professor, Lord, Sir John Krebbs has popped up again. He of the original RBCT protocol in the mid 1990s. He is reported as saying that a cull of badgers 'would not work' in this weeks' Farmers Guardian. The scientist who instigated the 10... Posted Jul 13 2011, 01:23 AM by Bovine TB [Edit Tags]

• Update - the laughing badger.

  We are grateful to Ken Wignall for permission to use this cartoon, originally published in Farmers Guardian last week. It should be viewed in conjunction with this posting where we listed some of the hoops farmers will be expected to jump through in order... Posted Jul 10 2011, 02:32 PM by Bovine TB [Edit Tags]

• Mischief

  This posting is an extension of the one below, in which we expressed our intense depression with the polarised comments following hyped up media headline grabs. Many of these comments, after having the usual dig at cattle farmers, referred to the vaccination... Posted Jul 07 2011, 02:48 PM by Bovine TB [Edit Tags]

• Don't get too excited.

  Headlines this week indicate a decision on badger culling may be in the wind, ahead of parliament packing its collective bucket and spade for the long summer recess. Farmers Guardian had the story as does the Independent. The Mail On-line echos the Independents... Posted Jul 06 2011, 02:27 PM by Bovine TB [Edit Tags]