Building a Badger Sett

[10 Bears]

Care to elaborate? Is that in reference that we are culling but also stipulating measures such as the above? Or that planning permission was granted?

 

I thought the same in regards to the "bloody mad" comment, but to be fair, its all been in black and white since 1973...

 

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1973/57/enacted

 

Note section 7 point 2. Its been this way for years...

[spiral]

Great job!,

 

Sadly I saw a major famous building company bulldoze a hedgerow full of nesting birds & badgers into oblivion about 14 years ago. {They Built about 2000 houses there over a few years.}

 

The parent birds were frantic, never saw the badgers again, they used to come up into my parents garden & knock the birdbath over till I put an old milk churn lid on the ground for them to get water, they once dug in the flower bed & under the fence into the neighbours, & used to scoop little patches out of the lawn for worms, but they seemed a nice enough family animal & seem sadly much maligned species to me.

 

They company denied there had been a badger sett there & the council were happy with that. {They were all best buddies....scum}

 

There's hardly a hedge or wood for miles round there know.

 

Spiral

[sean]

Great job!,

 

Sadly I saw a major famous building company bulldoze a hedgerow full of nesting birds & badgers into oblivion about 14 years ago. {They Built about 2000 houses there over a few years.}

 

The parent birds were frantic, never saw the badgers again, they used to come up into my parents garden & knock the birdbath over till I put an old milk churn lid on the ground for them to get water, they once dug in the flower bed & under the fence into the neighbours, & used to scoop little patches out of the lawn for worms, but they seemed a nice enough family animal & seem sadly much maligned species to me.

 

They company denied there had been a badger sett there & the council were happy with that. {They were all best buddies....scum}

 

There's hardly a hedge or wood for miles round there know.

 

Spiral

 

Yeah thats grim mate........we had people coming up to us appalled that we should be building setts for such 'vermin'.....all badgers 'should be killed'....'they spread disease and attack children'.......WTF?

[pycoed]

Care to elaborate? Is that in reference that we are culling but also stipulating measures such as the above? Or that planning permission was granted?

 

Not really, we've been through all this before, but my parents & grandparents were deadly serious about TB, since they remembered before penicillin. It's an extremely nasty disease, & if you had to design a perfect carrier animal, then you'd go a long way to (sadly) to beat the badger. Perhaps remember this when people start catching it again & this time antibiotics won't work...

[spiral]

Yeah thats grim mate........we had people coming up to us appalled that we should be building setts for such 'vermin'.....all badgers 'should be killed'....'they spread disease and attack children'.......WTF?

 

Cheers...Yes it was... Used to enjoy watching them pottering around & the young playing on the few occasions I was lucky enough to see them.

 

 

Not really, we've been through all this before, but my parents & grandparents were deadly serious about TB, since they remembered before penicillin. It's an extremely nasty disease, & if you had to design a perfect carrier animal, then you'd go a long way to (sadly) to beat the badger. Perhaps remember this when people start catching it again & this time antibiotics won't work...

 

mmmm almost as perfect as red deer & cattle? & of course we know which one of those is pumped full of antibiotics for the sake of greed. {Weight gain side effect.} So which truly poses the greatest risk of making the disease untreatable?

 

Seems obvious to me.

 

spiral

[pycoed]

Red deer & cattle don't live underground in close family groups, don't share the same dung pits, don't squabble & nip each other incessantly & don't urinate almost continuously. All these traits make (unfortunately for it) the badger an almost perfect carrier for a respiratory disease. Add that to the over population due to needless protection of an animal that was never in danger any way & we now have a problem with the disease endemic in the badger population over large parts of the country.

Whether or not the first infected badger caught TB from a cow &/or reprehensible farming practices or vice versa is academic: the fact remains they've got it now, the vaccine doesn't work very well & in any case doesn't stop a carrier animal from spreading it. Testing & culling cattle is useless unless the same is done with the main wildlife vector, the badger. Instead of culling badgers on an area by area base, what should be done is that individual setts in TB areas are tested. I can't believe that this has still not been done despite all the whoohaa. If found to be infected the whole sett population should be culled. Clean setts should be left well alone. Only when the wildlife vector is included, can the soul destroying (& very expensive) culling of cattle herds bring any sort of permanent results.

 

Now the argument about cavalier use of antibiotics is a separate one & despite your naive use of terminology ("pumped full of antibiotics for the sake of greed" really - is this Countryfile?) I agree that we should'nt have done that & should stop it immediately.

[Agi-Smash]

I dont understand.

I am trying to understand both sides here. From a cattle farming background i think it is obvious my views on the little black and white buggers. And as pointed out elsewhere in this thread they are not endangered and proven carriers for disease, so why help them?

Fair play it is a good bit of groundswork you have done there and anything that helps nature is all good. But why badgers?

[difflock]

Coming from a suckling herd background, ie keep cows to produce calves to either sell a stores or finish ourselves.

I can assure anyone that antibiotic use was very very miniminal, i.e. targeted on the few sick animals only.

Perhaps the Diary sector use more antibiotics, I dont know.

BUT

I do KNOW how many silly/stupid/misguided people run to the Dr. for antibiotics when they either are not particularly sick, or indeed for illnesses that antibiotics will NOT cure.

And the adults who also do not finish the course of antibiotics, or swill alcohol during it.

ESPECIALLY for sniffling, naturally mildly sick children.

I ABSOLUTLY know these facts to be true from observation within our average local community.

So hey folks look to the beam in your own eyes before blaming farmers motes!!!

regards,

marcus

PS

Our suckling hear survived with badger setts on three of our boundaries.

Never any issues that I was/am aware of.

Edited July 4, 2014 by difflock

[spiral]

Red deer & cattle don't live underground in close family groups, don't share the same dung pits, don't squabble & nip each other incessantly & don't urinate almost continuously. All these traits make (unfortunately for it) the badger an almost perfect carrier for a respiratory disease. Add that to the over population due to needless protection of an animal that was never in danger any way & we now have a problem with the disease endemic in the badger population over large parts of the country..

 

 

mmm RSPCA say on average 4 to 6 per cent of badgers have bovine TB & Imperial college London say 5.7% of cattle infections are directly from badgers.

 

Whether or not the first infected badger caught TB from a cow &/or reprehensible farming practices or vice versa is academic: the fact remains they've got it now, the vaccine doesn't work very well & in any case doesn't stop a carrier animal from spreading it. Testing & culling cattle is useless unless the same is done with the main wildlife vector, the badger. Instead of culling badgers on an area by area base, what should be done is that individual setts in TB areas are tested. I can't believe that this has still not been done despite all the whoohaa. If found to be infected the whole sett population should be culled. Clean setts should be left well alone. Only when the wildlife vector is included, can the soul destroying (& very expensive) culling of cattle herds bring any sort of permanent results..

 

I have no objection to the culling of tb infected animals, including badgers. That seems sensible to me.

 

Its the wholesale slaughter across vast areas of uninfected animals I object to.

 

See attached file at base of post... in one area 243 badgers culled, only 4 with TB. or 446 killed for 12 infected... not good odds.

 

Best result 293 dead for 103 infected... Youd soon scream at those odds for cattle.

 

Now the argument about cavalier use of antibiotics is a separate one & despite your naive use of terminology ("pumped full of antibiotics for the sake of greed" really - is this Countryfile?) I agree that we should'nt have done that & should stop it immediately.

 

My naietivty of expression comes from knowledge picked up from the local butcher who runs his own farm...as did his parents & grandparents.. But if you wish to feel you insult me by using the term country file... fine... I don't feel particularly insulted... Ive been called worse in life.

 

 

Its interesting that 2/3 of TB slaughtered cattle are still considered fit to enter the food chain. & that apparently the cases of BTB in humans is so minimal in countrys were milk is pasteurised.

 

Agi smash... hoped my post helps a bit more explaining my views. Sure lets try & eradicate TB but killing every black & white bugger wont do that.

 

Difflock...

 

I agree & have seen the same.... I am a long way from being the type of person you describe... Last report I read on child health based on area of upbringing, farm kids had less illness than anyone by teenage years because they had built up a natural immunity due to all the germs, dung, animals, viruses etc.

 

I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger..... {Barring polio, hiv, pneumonia etc.}

 

spiral

[Commando]

Red deer & cattle don't live underground in close family groups, don't share the same dung pits, don't squabble & nip each other incessantly & don't urinate almost continuously. All these traits make (unfortunately for it) the badger an almost perfect carrier for a respiratory disease. Add that to the over population due to needless protection of an animal that was never in danger any way & we now have a problem with the disease endemic in the badger population over large parts of the country.

Whether or not the first infected badger caught TB from a cow &/or reprehensible farming practices or vice versa is academic: the fact remains they've got it now, the vaccine doesn't work very well & in any case doesn't stop a carrier animal from spreading it. Testing & culling cattle is useless unless the same is done with the main wildlife vector, the badger. Instead of culling badgers on an area by area base, what should be done is that individual setts in TB areas are tested. I can't believe that this has still not been done despite all the whoohaa. If found to be infected the whole sett population should be culled. Clean setts should be left well alone. Only when the wildlife vector is included, can the soul destroying (& very expensive) culling of cattle herds bring any sort of permanent results.

 

Now the argument about cavalier use of antibiotics is a separate one & despite your naive use of terminology ("pumped full of antibiotics for the sake of greed" really - is this Countryfile?) I agree that we should'nt have done that & should stop it immediately.

 

Well said!