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Comments on: Vets support the killing of badgers

News Blog from the Telegraph Media Group

By: BlackArrow
Clearly, the vets are weasels ... as in The Wind and the Willows, you see.
By: Pragmatist
Thanks Peter.
By: coconut
Sir David King the government's former chief scientific adviser only looked at the animal health science. Hilary Benn however had to take into account public acceptability and the practicalities of administering a cull. In fact he had to turn a blind eye to certain evidence such as that provided by Jenkins and Co from Imperial College which looked at the incidence of TB outside the cull areas after culling in the ISG trails ceased. In fact incidence levels after culling ceased actually reduced in these areas. See the extract below. "Analyses revealed that, during the post-trial period, the incidence of confirmed cattle herd breakdowns was 54% lower inside proactive trial areas than inside survey-only areas. This result was consistent across all ten triplets. However, this effect in the post-trial period was substantially greater than that observed in the during-trial period (23% reduction). There was no evidence of a difference between the effect in the latter part of the trial (last two years during trial) and the first year of the post-trial period. On land neighboring proactive trial areas, no detrimental effects were observed in the post-trial period: the incidence of confirmed cattle herd breakdowns was 23% lower than that on land neighboring survey-only trial areas. However, again, the effect in the post-trial period was significantly different from the detrimental effect (24% greater incidence) observed in the during-trial period. As with inside trial areas, there was no evidence of a difference between the effect in the latter part of the trial (last two years during-trial) and the first year of the post-trial period." See http://www.clearstats.co.uk/badgerculldecision.php. Other countries such as New Zealand had a bovine TB which matched ours 10 years ago but unlike us are able to properly address the problem by looking at all the factors involved and are now well on the road to becoming bovine TB free. Hilary Benn's decision not to cull badgers was based on science, but as time goes on and more science is being reported, it is becoming clear that this was more social science than animal health science.

stop the cull of our badgers

BADGER TB : OUT OF THE DARKNESS ?

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Martin Hancox writes -

Amidst the enormous confusion over this 40 year old saga, three new beams of "light" have now arisen . The Oral badger vaccine field trial has just started in Ireland . Rather ironic that an inconclusive trial took place there some 20 years ago .This trial was not allowed in GB because of the risk a cow Might wander past a badger sett, eat the choccy coated pill and so upset the skin test ! And here the Glos. Injectible trial must be nearing completion .. so why on earth are DEFRA still planning another wildly impractical Injectible trial in 6 areas next year.

Whilst on dodgy testing .. it is tragic that a number of big dairy herds have been under TB restriction since foot & mouth or longer .. clearly skin plus IFN tests are NOT removing the culprit active spreader cow .. so what is needed is either a blood antibody ELISA now routinely used in Ireland in such chronic herds , OR an antibody MAPIA Rapid Test, or DNA PCR on faecal swabs .

Lastly a very important finding of the "TB Eradication Group Report 0ct.2009" It is that the huge reservoir of UnConfirmed cases SHOULD be treated as though they DO have TB (under EC Directive 64/432) .

Thus since FMD 2001 there have been some 30,000 new herds, about half unconfirmed, and some 230,000 TB cases in an area roughly a quarter the size of G B ; everything west of a line up from Dorset to Derbyshire. This is nearly 3 times worse than at the start of the textbook Area Eradication scheme in 1960. And so with the greatest respect with all this TB swirling about amongst the cattle population , it is hard to see how any badger cull or vaccine strategy will have the slightest relevance. Take the Welsh cull of the 1000 badgers in Pembroke , if 80% culled that is 800, and if as worst case scenario in Powys 25 % have TB , that is only 200 out of 200 sq.km ie. l TB badger /sq.km which can hardly make any difference ?

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Spirit Badger

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Occasionally coincidence can forge tangible connections between hitherto inexplicable strangeness. Very few people that I have met have the necessary sensitivity & strength to make meaningful sense from animal spirits. Maxine Mustoe is something of an exception, a spate of coincidences ?

I will try to be objective, but its hard being at the centre of a hugely powerful, spiritual, ghostly scenario. I became acquainted with psychic Maxine after she posted a video response to one of the badger videos I posted on youtube. That video introduced a 'spirit badger' an experience remarkably similar to some I have had myself. Sparing you too many details, as a sensitive, caring animal lover, it seems not un-natural to have a psychic connection with the animals that we love, such as pets, & wildlife. In my youth I took magic mushrooms in a field of cows once, I didn't eat beef for four years. In 1993 I found a horribly injured cat, I was helpless to save & too weak to kill myself, the pitiful cries of an animal in pain are enough to make me breakdown all the moral codes of my disposition. I saw the poor cat was nearing its end, I held him firmly so as not to allow movement of his broken back, the cries of distress became a gentle purr. In tears I took this beautiful animal to the nearest emergency vet who administered the final transition into spirit of this unfortunate cat. It was Winter, & an inch or so of snow fell as I sadly walked home with my alsation 'Saint'. At a certain point on that journey I saw, as did Saint, pricking up his ears, the same cat glide across our path a few yards ahead, my neck hairs stood on end & as we approached the parked car where the cat appeared to go, it was instantly aparant that there was no cat there, not even pawprints in the virgin snow. It was my realization that 'Snowflake' (the name I call this ghost cat) had come to somehow thank me. That was my first of many subsequent animal spirit contacts.

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