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West Somerset landowners urged to oppose badger cull

10:00am Sunday 5th February 2012 in News

PHOTO: Sally Longstaff PHOTO: Sally Longstaff

A CHARITY opposed to the potential badger cull in West Somerset is planning to enlist local volunteers to help convince landowners to oppose the pilot.

The League Against Cruel Sports has said that as 70% of landowners in the area must agree to the cull for it to go ahead, they will be asking them to sign declarations saying they won't allow it to happen.

Katy Roberts from the charity said: “We are encouraging people to get involved with the consultation process.”

Comments(10)

creecher says...
3:50pm Sun 5 Feb 12

How many years and how many investigations costing god knows how many millions does it take for these supposedly intelligent people to realise that the only solution to this problem is to hurry up and develop either a vaccine for the cows or the badgers that is if it is the badgers that are the problem. About time everyone got a life and stopped pandering to blood thirsty gung ho hunters looking for an exscuse to shoot anything that moves.

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Matt the Rat says...
9:29am Mon 6 Feb 12

Why are badgers protected at all? They are not rare, they are not harmless and they carry disease.

Their protected status should be removed which would then allow landowners to make their own decisions as they already do with deer and foxes.

There is no logical reason for badgers to be protected.

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jo_b says...
10:24am Mon 6 Feb 12

They're protected because low-life's dig them out of their setts and fight their dogs against them. It's a horrific past-time and the protection is needed. In a similar way to the law on fox hunting....
People spread disease, as does every animal, that's how disease is so effective at what it does.

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Matt the Rat says...
10:32am Mon 6 Feb 12

jo_b, while I agree that badger baiters are the scum of the earth, that is not a good enough reason to give badgers the level of protection that they currently have.
Of course people spread disease; but the discussion is not about people, it's about badgers!
Fox hunting is banned, but foxes aren't protected. Why the difference?

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Postman-Pat says...
12:25pm Mon 6 Feb 12

Matt the Rat wrote:
jo_b, while I agree that badger baiters are the scum of the earth, that is not a good enough reason to give badgers the level of protection that they currently have.
Of course people spread disease; but the discussion is not about people, it's about badgers!
Fox hunting is banned, but foxes aren't protected. Why the difference?
I'm not a hippy in the slightest. But every animal has the right to live even if they do spread disease. The only reason we should kill animals is if we are going to eat them, or if they are in so much pain that it is the humane thing to do. Who really has the right to pass a law that allows the killing of innocent animals? The reason they have the level of protection that they do, is to stop mindless farmers going on shooting sprees. It hasn't even been proved that badgers give TB to cows! Cows are less likely to contract TB if they live a healthy and organic outdoor life, so perhaps the farmers should try this before loading the 12 bore.

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Matt the Rat says...
8:17pm Mon 6 Feb 12

You ask who has the right to pass a law that allows the killing of innocent animals, and I would ask the reverse; who has the right to pass a law that protects an animal that causes thousands of pounds worth of damage to property, spreads disease, and is wiping out native fauna (hedgehogs, bees etc).

Remove the protected status and let folks decide for themselves.

Oh, and your comments about 'mindless farmers' will hardly endear you to the farming community - even the organic farmers you think are immune from bTB.

I'll ask the simple question again; why are badgers protected at all? Could it be because people like 'Postman Pat' have no idea of what the impact of an ever increasing population is having?

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Postman-Pat says...
8:32pm Mon 6 Feb 12

Issue me with proof that badgers pass TB to cows and i'll entertain your argument. I didn't say that organic cows are immune from TB, but they have proven less likely to contract the disease, which puts the emphasis back on the ways of farming such as intensive cattle rearing, animal husbandry and the use of anti-biotics and other drugs. Defra would be better off developing a vaccine for TB rather than carrying out scientifically flawed krebs experiments. But carry on blaming the badgers without proof, some experts say that it could easily be cows passing TB to badgers.

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Matt the Rat says...
8:42pm Mon 6 Feb 12

Put the TB issue to one side; there are too many badgers!

Why do they need to be protected? There is a high population of badgers which is increasing year on year, and badgers outnumber foxes in most areas. Foxes are not protected but badgers are. Why?

It's not just disease; badgers damage crops, property (digging up human graves for example) kill pets, livestock and rare wildlife and yet not only is the badger itself protected, you can't even fill in it's holes!

If badgers were rare, or even in decline, I'd fully agree with full protection, BUT THEY ARE NOT! Their numbers are too high, and increasing all the time.

Let landowners decide for themselves the same as they do for foxes and deer. It should be up to individuals not the governement or the noisey 'cuddlywuddly badger' brigade.

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Postman-Pat says...
10:30pm Mon 6 Feb 12

they are protected to stop mass slaughter from ignorant farmers who believe they spread TB. They may own the land, but do not own the right to kill. Farmers are compensated by the tax payers if they have a TB outbreak anyway, so I don't know what they're worried about. We decided to farm animals and must accept that not every problem needs to have a blame. Nothing is certain in farming and owning animals. I have a problem with dogs **** on the road I live, perhaps I should solve it the farmers way with a shotgun?

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AC SHAPTER says...
2:08pm Wed 8 Feb 12

What has everyone got againist badgers anyway they have a right to live as much as anyone else does

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