Children's Web Magazine
Children's Web Magazine
Badger Culling
The Government in the United Kingdom has decided that to stop the
spread of bovine tuberculosis amongst cattle, badgers must be culled because they
consider them to be the main culprit for spreading the virus. You may have heard
about this on the news. But it was an e - mail from Naturewatch a charity that
campaigns against animal cruelty that made Children's Web Magazine want to look
into it more.
Naturewatch and other animal organisations together with scientists
and members of parliament say culling badgers is not the way to solve the problem
and it won't work either.
The Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman insists though that this is the only way
forward. She has said "We can't escape the fact that the evidence supports the case for the controlled reduction of the badger population in the areas affected by bovine TB." But what is the research, the evidence that we all need to know in order to make the right decision?
John Krebs a scientist who carried out a 10 year trial on the effect culling
badgers has, claimed the results showed it to be an ineffectual measure. In the Isle of Man there aren't any badgers but there is bTB (bovine tuberculosis). In Northern Ireland they haven't culled badgers and yet it has had a fall in the infection of bTB in cattle. This is different to the Republic of Ireland where culling has taken place and there has been an increase in bTB. One of the reasons in Northern Ireland it has fallen is because of firm controls on the movement of cattle and tough testing of cattle to
make sure there are no signs of bTB. Both of these help decrease the chance of the
cattle being infected. In the United Kingdom both of these regulations have become lenient in recent years.
Caroline Lucas a Member of Parliament for the Green Party believes that culling badgers goes against the scientific proof that 80% of bTB is considered to be due to cattle passing it on to other cattle, particularly as huge dairy herds are kept together
in crowded conditions. Yet farms that have cattle in certain areas in the United Kingdom where bTB is a real problem are afraid of moving them in case they become infected.
We must also remember that badgers are meant to be a protected animal. I don't see how killing some while leaving others who still may have bTB will work. Especially as science says that if some badgers in a family are killed, this will upset the others and encourage them to wander more. This could then cause them to come into association with cattle, therefore creating a bigger problem as more cattle would be come
infected. We can't wipe out the badger population completely. They would become extinct and bTB would still be around it wouldn't have become extinct.
Caroline Spelman says there is no alternative. But surely the is testing of cattle and restricting their movement does work and should never have been allowed to lapse.
She also said that a vaccine for badgers was "years away" and "could not say with
any certainty when it would be ready." But she cancelled 5 out of 6 vaccination
trials. This had been started by the previous Labour Government who reckoned a vaccine would be ready by 2015. If bTB has been going as far back as the 1920's why hasn't anyone got to grips with the problem? They should have found a successful way
of dealing with it by now. The RSPCA says "the Government is more interested in
killing badgers than vaccinating them."
Even if they do cull badgers the reduction of bTB in cattle is only going to be 10% or 16% which isn't a very high percentage. No wonder it keeps coming back because it never really fully goes away. In my opinion Caroline Spelman needs to come up with
the research and the proof as to why badgers need to be culled, because her evidence
is totally unconvincing.
What is your opinion? Do you think badgers should be culled? If so give a reason why.
If not give a reason why. Please express your opinion below and include your
first name, age and nationality. DO NOT send any other details.
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