Just thought I'd share this with you....

I'm amazed that no comments have been made on any of the three previous blog posts I've made.

I'm guessing that the badger apologist sect can't disagree, so haven't bothered to comment.

In the meantime; I thought I'd share this poster with you all.  Please pass it on.

My TB Control Strategy - Part 2

OK, so we've got a locked down farm; what next?

Well while the epidemiologists do their work to find out how this farm got bTB, a complete survey of the farm should be carried out by someone who knows what they are doing.  By someone who knows what they are doing, I mean someone with practical knowledge and skills, not a university graduate looking for a short term job in the open air (I'll explain that one another time).

The survey should look at all wildlife likely to be a vector of the disease; deer, feral cats, rats, and of course, badgers.

As soon as that has been done, efforts must be carried out to prevent further infection.  That may include controlling rats, fencing off badger latrines and controlling feral cats.

What is most important is that some badgers are trapped and euthanized to test them for bTB.  If those test results come back positive, then every badger that sets foot on the farm must be removed.  Removal methods should be comprehensive and include cage trapping and night shooting.  Finally, gassing and set closure should be carried out.  Gassing can be carried out using Sodium Cyanide applied using a motorised pump (a derogation from the Biocides Directive would be required, as shown by the Czech Republic) and resurveys should be carried out at monthly intervals.

What if the badgers don't test positive for bTB?

Wait for it..............

Vaccinate them.

More to follow.

My bTB control Strategy - Part One

This is part one of the control strategy that I've been banging on about on Twitter; just in a bit more detail.

I would never consider myself an expert; but I've worked in disease control and wildlife management, and the following is a suggestion of how I think it should be handled.

OK, so a farm goes down with bTB.  Very sad for the farmer concerned, but actually, not very visible to the general public, unlike FMD.

The first thing that should happen is a complete shutdown of the farm.  Nothing should be brought onto the farm, or taken off it without a licence.  This in itself, could be viewed by some as a bureaucratic nightmare; and it certainly has the potential to be, BUT... it's essential that some control system is put in place and managed by a third party.  I'd suggest a vet, as that is the way it was done during FMD.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, should be moved on or off without the consent of the vet, who in turn, should make sure that the correct protocols are put in place to disinfect on and off the farm.

Every single point of entry to the farm; that means field gates, footpaths and the main entry point should have a big red sign placed on it informing people that these premises have TB and that entry is forbidden except by licence.  That of course means closing any footpath or other right of way to prevent the physical transfer of the TB bacteria.

At this point we have a completely 'locked down' farm, where nothing is moving on or off without a licence, which is only given when full biosecurity can be implemented.

Then we move on to Step Two.

Why are badgers protected?

Following on from some of the stuff on Twitter recently, I thought I'd ask the simple question; Why are badgers protected? You see, to a simple countryman like me, I can understand why some species need to be protected; they may be rare, as in the case of some birds of prey, or they may be harmless, like some songbirds. The trouble is, neither of these apply to badgers. The fact is; in the Southwest of England, there are just too many badgers for the good of them, and the environment they live in. Just take hedgehogs for an example. Old Brock like hedgehogs. They make a nice little badger snack. In West Cornwall, during the RBCT (Randomised Badger Culling Trials), the University of Warwick did a survey of the proactive cull area before culling started. What did they find? Lots of badgers and few, if any, hedgehogs. The badgers had pretty much wiped them out. Post cull, another survey was done, and found that where the badger population had been reduced, hedgehog numbers had started to recover. That is what is known as Wildlife Management. When one species becomes so numerous that it starts to impact on other, rarer species, we step in and try and redress the balance with an overall positive effect on the environment as a whole. It's not just hedgehogs that are suffering under the strain of an ever increasing population of badgers either; bumblebees, ground nesting birds, newts, amphibians etc. They are all, gradually losing the fight to survive against such a huge, and overprotected badger population. So I ask again, why are badgers protected? Think about it. Foxes aren't protected, nor are deer. Both large mammal species, both rarer than badgers, both thriving and healthy. If the protected status of badgers was removed in those counties where they are endemic, what would the result be? The result would be landowners choosing for themselves whether to cull badgers or not. The badgers left would be more healthy, with less competition for food, hedgehogs and those other species that are being hoovered up at present would start to recover, and we wouldn't need any state organised cull. Those landowners who chose not to cull could sit happily watching their badgers multiply (and other species decrease)and everyone would be happy. Except the protectionist lunatics who want to protect badgers at the expense of everything else. They'll never be happy without a 'cause'. Coming soon: My bTB control strategy