Stop the badger cull petition. Please sign

Can anybody from Somerset or Gloustershire report back on what is happening? Please.

Whitewave, young are usually born January/Feb and come above ground around Easter. By now they should all be above ground and feeding independently, and about to be kicked out as the mating season will soon be starting. Badgers btw have a very clever way to delay implantation of foetus - the female can mate and store fertilised eggs until she decides the time is right to start them growing.

I thought a 'cull' was a process of weeding out sick, old, injured animals. The intention of the present plan is to exterminate all they can find in a given area. I think, like OGM that I heard there will have to be a debate now. Good.

It depends on the criteria, Lilygran. A cull can also be put in place to reduce numbers.

If the intention is to stop the transmission of TB from badgers to cattle and they won't use vaccination, reducing numbers is a waste of time. In no sense is this a 'cull'.

Granjura on our local news, tonight, they reported that the petition had 150,000 signatures and said that the Ministers looked forward to debating the issue so that they could better inform the public! HRMPH! They also said that the 'cull' was due to start soon! I am going to see if I can find a local protest group, will keep you posted.

An interesting point made recently: low milk prices mean farmers can't afford to look after their cows properly. Unhealthy cows are far more likely to catch TB
Think poverty in the Archers just now.

True Carbon Anyway, which came first, TB in cattle or TB in badgers? I remember many years (50s I think) ago milk bottles were labelled TT which stood for tuberculin tested.

My great dread is the establishment of those huge 'factory' dairies where hundreds of cows are kept together in enclosed buildings, euphemistically called 'loose housing systems', rather like battery hens.

granjura the 'cull' has been postponed!!!!! Because of the petition (150,000 plus signatures) the matter was debated in parliament a few days ago and the government was defeated by 147 votes to 28. I am unable to post links but you could maybe 'Google' badger cull and find the article which was in the Guardian Newspaper.

The postponement seems to have been due to totally inaccurate estimates on the behalf of DEFRA re numbers - and a realisation that they whole plan was not feasible at the moment it seems. Another great month for our esteemed coalition government.
I was listening to a science prog last night in which they said the prevailing theory about TB in humans is that it transferred from cattle.

Thank you Oldgreymare - will check for relevant articles. Most areas have a 'badger group' - there should me one near you, Check on

www.badgertrust.org

jess, this may be apocryphal, but I'm sure I heard when I was but a sprog that milk maids tended to have a natural immunity to TB. Got some scientists wondering how...

<Bags heads wikiwards in search of info>

Ah no, it's cow pox/smallpox I'm thinking of.

I think they must know who's on their side. We have suddenly developed great holes under our fence - if we mend one the next day something has bashed another hole in the fence. Yes, bashed with force. So we have decided to leave the latest hole and just reinforce the fence around it. Last night I put peanuts near the hole and this morning they were gone.
There is another hole the other side the garden we have now discovered.
We live in a road but quite near countryside - we think there must be a run all through the gardens.