Hi,just a few words about all the killing that some farmers want to do.Badgers,Foxes,Deer & anything else they perceive to be a problem.What about the problems the human race has caused to the other inhabitants of this planet.I bet some of you that are shooters will hope that we get bird flu in this country,as it will give you the excuse to kill something else.One of the nfu representitives in the south west said that he did not want to wipe out the whole badger population,just in hotspots like Cornwall,Devon & Gloucestershire,so no badgers in the south west then.There is also another peice of bullshit that keeps coming out about the badgers & that is that culling the badgers will get a healthy population.If  TB did not affect cattle there would be no talk of badger welfare they would be left as they are.I am a peacefull individual but I think there will be a big backlash against farmers who cull.We should be able to live side by side with all creatures its there planet as well as ours & they have done less dammage.

DO WHAT THEY WILL,BUT HARM NONE

You ruddy bunny brusher!

I'll let you in on a little secret...I'm all for the cull and I'm all for shooting  OUTRAGEOUS!!!!  

 

Bloody do gooder naff off back to the town. Badgers are a menace in the countryside they are getting out of control hence the explosion in TB. As for saying we want bird flu you need your head read it would destroy poultry farming in this country. I dont want all my mothers chickens destroyed!! You should get clued up on the subjects before commenting!!!!!

on exmoor the main problem with badgers and TB started because of another person like you ( we think but have so far been able to prove them to be part of RSPCA) brought infected badgers to the League Against Cruel Sports sanctuary at Dulverton, thats why according to their onetime employee and marksman Mr Pearce lots of deer had to be shot because they also had TB, Ms Ballard the MP for Taunton was approached by a number of farmers during 1998 and the then minister Nick Brown MP was written to regarding the welfare of the deer and possible link with TB/badgers and deer local to Baronsdown, Ms Ballards reaction was to jointly with LACS to either ring or write and threaten farmers and press alike with legal action if any more was said, this was thus buried untill Mr Pearce wrote in the local papers 2 years ago, unfortunatly the TB problem has escalated and reached parts of Exmoor never to have seen TB before, not to mention the fact that some of these farms carry "closed herds", for the prat who started this debate, that means no bought in cattle, so where did the TB come from ?, BADGERS, so get your facts right.

Just for the record, when the Ministry/DEFRA were killing thousands of farmers livestock during the FMD year where were the RSPCA? no where to be seen or heard, yet they spend thousands to advertise and encourage people to condemn farmers for wanting their livestock protected from infected badgers, Ms Ballard at work again me thinks as head of this very misguided organisation, which has been unfortunatly infiltrated by animal rights extremists, and some of them are pretty ugly specimens !

 

Sorry to dissapoint you but I do not come from a town.Also I have hens of my own & I dont want to see them killed either,& as far as saying that you want bird flu I am sure that some people would enjoy the chance to go out shooting.I never said that tb was not in badgers but cattle to cattle would also spread the disease.like if I had tb you could catch it of me.Have a good day.

You should not get so upset I am intitled to my opinion as are you.If you cought tb from someone then by the way you are talking you should be culled as well.Have a good day.

Thank you for calling me a prat.Not one person who has replied to my original posting has not been able to reply without being rude.I never said that badgers did not have tb.I do not want to the cattle put down or the badgers.If the governments past & present had spent the money on finding a vaccine for the cattle instead of keep trying the cull option we would not have this problem in cattle.Also going back to the f&m which you have brought up I also live in the country & saw the terrable waste of life as animals free from the disease were killed.But I also no that some farmers infected there herds on purpose,my vet even had suspicions on how certain farms had got it.have a nice day.

I think Monjes is making a valid point in her first post. At a time when we Farmers' need every bit of support we can get from absolutely anyone, but especially the voting and tax paying public, the idea of a mass badger cull is a massive 'own goal'. The vitriolic and arrogant approach to her views is typical of how farmers are being viewed by the public and media - and who can blame them? We are not always right and I know this is earth shattering to some, we are not the only and  most important people in this country!

good afternoon

i would like to add my view on this "debate" we as humans like to protect our species and like to be comfortable this is the way we are even animal rights people like comforts even though they may deny them selves certain things to try and make a point but most people like comfort and to be well fed the public wants to be fed and the famers want to see some return and be comfortable after all the blood sweat and tears they are putting in to this industry which ultiatly servers you and a large portion of the UK.

farmers also grow things like wheat which even vegitarians eat and they do it with mounting pressure little income and growing scorn as the public are seeing them as murders of helpless cute fuzzy creatures. most farmers dont like the idea of killing but given the choice of protecting what they have have grown and cared for and what is there lively hood vs some wildlife you can bet your bottom dollar that they are going to chose there own animals first. just like you would chose to save a love one rather than a stranger if one had to die.

so far a hell of a lot of cattle (ANIMALS) have been slaughtered, think about the cute cows that are after your milk in the adverts last i heard about 10000 had been slaughter due to TB with out realising any profit.

10000 cattle and how many badgers have been killed legally? 0 so i would say the badgers are winning overall

so my advice to you is if u want to save the badgers from the human race help find a cure for TB that can be introduced on mass to the badger population...

now i have said my piece i am going to get back to work

thanks for your time

Thank you Compo,I know not all farmers are anti wildlife but night after night on the tv all the ones you see are wanting to get rid of it for some reason or another.I live next door to a farm & help my neighbour with his cattle if he needs a hand & I would not like to see anything happen to them.

Hello Bob,Thank you for your reply.As I said in one of my posts the governments past & present are at fault for not investing enough in looking for a vacine.I am not anti farmer,just would like abit of respect for the wild life.We have lost a lot of species world wide becouse of our lifestyle & I am to blame as much as the next man.Thank you for replying without being rude & I hope you have a good day.

YOU OUGHT TO GROW UP FARMERS DAUGHTER. LEARN ABOUT THE PROBLEM THEN OPEN YU MOUTH

I say Derky your a bit of a w    k. you farmers are supposed to take care of the countryside. You aint got a clue!!!!!

compo a person with sense.  I for one will ban beef from my house.Badgers do carry TB but so do Deer and others. Christ sake DO NOT create a frankenstein Countryside!!  There are SOO many other ways to combat this. If you get this cull you WILL lose support from the public. We aint gonna sit on our arses and let you get away with this.

I have studied and looked after Badgers for years. MAFF said 15years ago that a vaccine would take too long and be too costly!!!!!. WELL WELL our government are crap!they are lost totally lost.  Whats it cost now?? we all need to work together on this.

I didn't mean to be rude...OK, yeah I did. But I'm only giving my view. Our farm in Exmoor is over-run with badgers and we haven't got TB for many a year, so I should just be glad about that! Sorry if I upset anyone. And if any of you lot are so against the cull, just go join in on the "Back Off Badgers", but sure as hell you won't see me signing their petition!

Unfortunately this government has left it far too long.

It will not be possible to contain or erradicate TB with the background infection left in wildlife unaddressed.

I do not believe this means there has to be a 'mass' cull, but something needs to be done in the hot spot areas along with improved testing.

Well monjes, I am truly frightened that you have this opinion, probably along with countless others who haven't even heard of the Farmer's Weekly. You refer to shooters and farmers as if we are out to kill everything and destroy the countryside, the very same countryside which feeds and supports every single being on the planet. Farmers want to look after this, as second to providing food to feed the world, it provides a financial security for them, which modern society requires. Shooting runs side by side with farming and conservation, providing cover crops, increasing biodiversity and planting a variety of species and habitats. Nature is all about balance, the laws of ecosystem dynamics naturally restrict pouplation growth when competition becomes too high, be it through starvation, disease, or predation. In terms of the management of the land and the environment, British farmers lead the world. If this is through careful habitat managment by following the laws of natural selection -killing diseased or overpopulated species then so be it. Have you ever woken up to find 8 of your lambs and 12 of your chickens killed by a fox, not eaten, just killed? Did you know that more foxes are killed by snares in the area of London in one week than are killed humanely by farmers in one year? You mention killing deer as well, many of the deer in this country are not native and are susceptible to disease, deer strip bark off trees and damage the natural habitiats of many of our native species. Killing weak or dying animals, just like a vet will put down a cat, is in the interest of the animal/the rest of the species/other species which may be infected. Rabbits with Mixamatosis were hunted, for their own good, as they did not affect farming- so the argument that we are only culling badgers for the good of the cattle is wholly unsubstantiated. And I don't know where you have got this idea from that bird flu would give everyone an excuse to go shooting. Any culling would probably be done inside poultry units with gas. Encouraging birds to fly up into the air so they could be shot would spread the disease if anything! I think some people could benefit by looking at the wider picture. If we wanted all the badgers dead, then we would leave them to all die of TB and keep our animals safely inside until TB had wiped out the entire badger population, wouldn't we!

Hi Katemh,Sorry to ruin your idea but I do know about farmers weekly as my neighbour who is also a farmer gets it.He also shows me items that he knows I would be interested in.If you had read my first post you would have seen that I said some farmers,not all,as is the same with people who go shooting.If my hens get killed by a fox then it is my fault for not having provided a safe enviroment for them,also I believe that the fox would if he had the time would come back to collect the other chickens to bury for future consumption,just like you putting food in your freezer.I know deer strip bark off of trees as I have planted a woodland & have had that problem myself but I would rather replant trees than kill the deer.I agree that killing sick or injured animals is in the best interest of the animal,but there are people who shoot just becouse they like killing.The people who I hear shooting near where I live in the depths of the night cant tell if the fox/deer are sick.Also I believe that mixamatosis was introduced to the rabbit population by man to cut down there numbers so I can not see many people going out to shoot rabbits with it unless they felt sorry for the rabbit to put it out of its misery.As far as what I said about bird flu it was a sweeping statement but there are people out there who do like to shoot birds becouse they can,they feel important that they have the power of life & death,maybe not many but there out there & that is scary not me just writine a few comments.As far as keeping your animals inside until the badgers were wiped out by tb would not work becouse I think that some badgers would not get it so your cattle would be inside for along time & the farmers I know could not afford to keep them in food.Any way I believe that some dairy farmers are already keeping there stock indoors all of the time.As I said I have no problem with vets putting down sick or injured animals,but you also said about overpopulated species,now I wonder if you can guess what species I think is overpopulated but we can not cull them.its been lovely talking to you,have a good day.

That doesnt suprise me Daughter BUT You should read the figures. The biggest spread of bTB is cattle to cattle but you woulkdnt see that cause you are cattle!!! 

So whats your idea of a stop to this tb???? CULL is not a cure.  I have put foxes back into the wild along with Badgers. YEs a i agree Foxes have their pitfalls but so have us bloody humans!. We cant go round mass slaughtering everything that gets a desease. It has been proven that where there are no Badgers bTB is rife. Answer that. I quite beleive if we had vast amounts of hot weather this bTB would fade away. The Brock is a favourite British Mammal. Why the F...k mass slaughter them? Whats this Bloody country comin to?

tell you what Derky im probably MORE country reared than you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We will not get on top of the TB problem by killing cattle and leaving the wildlife that  infect them untouched, the infected wildlife need controlling also.

Cattle to cattle spread is minimal which is why during the housing period reactor numbers fall but increase when the cattle are out during the summer.

Farmers on the whole are animal lovers, they reluctantly give up their prized stock to help get on top of this problem and rightly expect infected wildlife to be controlled also.

Animal extremists on the other hand seem to fight for their selected species without a care for the other animals. If they were animal lovers would they not also be fighting for the poor cows?

Yep gerri something has to be done but not killing. Immediate premovement testing, Vaccine production.

im no professor of this kinda stuff but i do no that a cull with prove absolutely nothig

sorry gerri you got me again!!

I agree with you about feelin sorry for the cattle. You say exremists..........  wrong! im no extremist just dont wqant to see things killed when theres no proof!!   in fact there is proof that brock is the scapegoat.