Poor old Badger

It looks as though the UK is going to bend to the opinion of farmers and allow a badger cull in a limited area of the south west of England. There is also pressure on the Welsh Assembly to allow a similar cull in Pembrokeshire. There is little doubt that badgers can become infected with bovine TB and that they can become a source of infection and transmission of the disease. Other animals can also become infected including deer, foxes, rats, cats and even humans. What remains clear is that the primary source of infection and transmission of the disease are the cattle themselves. There is very little evidence that a cull of badgers will significantly decrease the spread of bovine TB. It is possible that frightened badgers will run away from a cull and carry the disease with them and thereby increase the incidence of diease.

The probable solution to the problem involves a combination of vaccination programmes, improved animal husbandry, greater control on cattle movements and better control of grazing etc. and just keeping badgers and cattle apart. Of course, this is difficult and costly - better to blame the poor old badger; kill it and hope the problem goes away. Unfortunately, the problem will not go away by using this ignorant and irrational approach.

We need to do our best to defend the livelihood of farmers for obvious reasons. But farming should not be defended to the cost of all wild life in general. The attitude that no other living creature, be it plant or animal, should be allowed to interfere with our farms could be disastrous. The health of all animals and plants on the planet requires some form of competition between the species. Human beings rely on the rest of nature just as much as they rely on farms; by damaging the rest of nature we could ultimately damage ourselves.

We should not be sentimental about our wildlife. I do not support any form of violent protest against the cull or those who conduct it. There have even been reports that journalists are being threatened merely for reporting the cull . This is unacceptable. If the cull goes ahead it will probably fail to the embarrassment of all concerned so any protest should be peaceful.

The public are overwhelmingly opposed to this cull even if they are not prepared to go out and demonstrate. The public at large is, however, opposed to violent protest; why go out of your way to upset them?

The best way for consumers to prevent this cull would be to buy products only from those farmers who respect their animals fully and those who also show some respect for the environment around them. The case for organic and bio-dynamic farming becomes stronger.