Sussex-wide badger cull will go ahead after Olympics

1:50pm Friday 13th July 2012 in News By Ben James

The Badger Trust believes the TB issue could be tackled with vaccination The Badger Trust believes the TB issue could be tackled with vaccination

Thousands of badgers are to be shot after the Sussex-based Badger Trust lost its High Court appeal to block the cull.

Expert marksmen will pick off the tuberculosis- carrying animals one-by-one after the government successfully argued that they posed a significant danger to cattle.

However, the cull will not start until after the Olympics as police fear they will be too stretched to deal with animal rights protestors.

The Badger Trust believes the problem could be treated with vaccinations and accused the livestock industry of “grievously distorting” the risks of badger to cattle infection.

However, the Government said that the numbers were so high that a cull was the only way forward.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said that in 2010/11, nearly 25,000 cattle were slaughtered in England alone at a cost to the taxpayer of £91 million, and the disease is having a devastating impact on livestock farmers.

Nobody wants to see all the badgers wiped out but they have to be controlled

Richard Benje, dairy farmer

Sue Baumgardt, a prominent animal rights activist from Hove, said: “It’s mindless murder. The Government has blood on its hands.

Related links

“There’s no concrete evidence to suggest that killing badgers will stop cows getting TB. "The truth of it is that humans used to contract TB when they were stressed and living in squalor.

“Cows these days are being bred to milk more than ever, are pregnant every year and have their babies taken away from them just days after they’re born.

“If they go ahead with the culls, we will be out in the fields opposing them. We’re not going to stand by and let this happen.”

'Positive move'

Mary Passmore, 92, at Coombes Farm, near Lancing since 1946, said: “I think it is a positive move for the farming community. People must understand that no farmer wants to get rid of all the badgers but we have to control them.

"The disease spreads very quickly between cows and the result can be devastating.”

Richard Benje, 47, who runs the Mill Bank Organic Cattle Farm in Hooe near Battle, said: “If cattle contract the disease then farmers are not allowed to trade until they are told it is safe to do so. It completely shuts down the farm.”

He added: “Nobody wants to see all the badgers wiped out but they have to be controlled.”

Sharpshooters from the British Association of Shooting, ex-servicemen and maybe even serving infantry will be drafted in to dispose of up to 40,000 animals over four years.

A trial to see if the killing method is successful will be carried out in Somerset and Gloucestershire and the cull rolled out across the country next year.

The Badger Trust plans to appeal against the decision and says it is still hopeful of a favourable outcome.

Trust chairman David Williams said: “We will now study the judgment closely and consider the next steps in our campaign to protect the badgers from a pointless cull.”

Comments(43)

Gordtheganjaman says...
1:56pm Fri 13 Jul 12

CRUEL!!!!!!

Report this post »

Mo Lester says...
2:03pm Fri 13 Jul 12

Maybe it could be made a new olympic sport.

Report this post »

Fight Back says...
2:09pm Fri 13 Jul 12

So it cost £91m to kill 25,000 cattle ? That equates to £3,640 per cow. So are the government and farmers really suggesting a vaccine would be more expensive - rubbish !!! It's just easier to slaughter badgers - maybe the pen pushers who authorised it should do the killing - bet they don't have the guts !

Report this post »

Daisyb2uk says...
2:35pm Fri 13 Jul 12

Quote.Expert marksmen will pick off the tuberculosis- carrying animals one-by-one after the government successfully argued that they posed a significant danger to cattle. quote

How do they identify the tuberculosis carrying animals? Or are all badgers deemed to carry TB?

Report this post »

longman says...
3:25pm Fri 13 Jul 12

Vaccinate not eradicate!

Report this post »

atlantis88 says...
3:51pm Fri 13 Jul 12

longman wrote:
Vaccinate not eradicate!
Excellent post!

Report this post »

jacsuejan says...
4:03pm Fri 13 Jul 12

So the old school of thinking has returned, that it is the badger that gives 'cow's' T.B. Not that many years a go it was announced, that after intensive annalist's that it was the cow's that gave it to badgers. but these days it is more convenient to blame the badger as shooting them cost less than treating the cows. also they say that there are to many badgers " so Kill them" easy answer. The badger has just as much right to live out its life as we do. LEAVE THEM ALONE

Report this post »

Spx says...
4:37pm Fri 13 Jul 12

This is pathetic. What's the next disease farmers won't be able to control?

Report this post »

MantaRay1 says...
5:57pm Fri 13 Jul 12

What a dreadful and unacceptable so called solution. Humans spread more diseases than badgers yet nobody suggests shooting people as a wonder cure for all. Totally non-pc.

Report this post »

Lisa.K says...
6:03pm Fri 13 Jul 12

They should be using this approach with the seagulls. The noise pollution from them is unbearable. There are way too many of them, it is getting way out of control.

Report this post »

matlock says...
6:19pm Fri 13 Jul 12

Emotions aside, this decision is illogical.

Badgers are territorial creatures, so they do not stray into others' areas. This effectively controls the movement of badgers, whether infected or not, and hence, contains the spread of TB.

Culling badgers creates territorial voids which causes neighbouring badgers to travel into the vacated territories (a process known as 'perturbation'), and this, of course, increases the spread of TB into previously non-infected areas.

Many studies have concluded this, including one commissioned by the government themselves (DEFRA).

In summary, culling badgers actually increases the spread of TB.

I sincerely hope every farmer who supports this action reaps the benefits with full-force.

Report this post »

Barquentine says...
6:54pm Fri 13 Jul 12

Shoot the cows. They make a much easier target.

Report this post »

mimseycal says...
8:46pm Fri 13 Jul 12

Am I surprised? Sadly no. Our successive governments have repeatedly demonstrated that they sooner deal with perceived problems by shooting them.

The only reason they haven't shot the lot of us is that they need the votes and taxes.

Report this post »

greeg2 says...
9:22pm Fri 13 Jul 12

Shoot the farmers instead,they cost the country a lot more than 91 mill.

Report this post »

hubby says...
9:23pm Fri 13 Jul 12

Sad.Unneccessary and so very British.

Report this post »

loubylou71 says...
10:57pm Fri 13 Jul 12

Do we put people down if they are 'SUSPECTED' of carrying a contagious disease ????? !!!!!!!!!

Report this post »

leobrighton says...
11:01pm Fri 13 Jul 12

Completely unacceptable

Report this post »

greeg2 says...
11:05pm Fri 13 Jul 12

hubby wrote:
Sad.Unneccessary and so very British.
Sad.Unnecessary and so very British

Report this post »

nosolution says...
12:41am Sat 14 Jul 12

Judging from most of the above posts the BADgers First brigade have fired up their propaganda machine.TB or no TB a lot less badgers would mean a lot more hedgehogs who are being out competed and completely outgunned by badgers and are becoming an endangered species in Britain.Next years ground nesting birds should find more of their eggs hatching,safer from the arch hoovers of the countryside,the badger and other wildlife like the often ignored litmus test of a properly balanced enviroment,the hares ,will hopefully have more leverets surviving to grace the downland pastures.But who cares about these creatures just so long as there is a saturated badger population to be propped up by an emotive,highly vocal,tunnel visioned,mis-informe
d,single issue type of person who cannot accept or admit that their favourite animal is not the angel that they think it is.I like badgers and they are important members of a diverse habitat but in some places there are far too many of them .Oh and Matlock,you are wrong,badgers do stray into each others territories.Most of the young boars are kicked out each spring and some go far afield,this is necessary to prevent inbreeding and radio tracking has shown that badgers will roam well over 2 to 3 miles a night at times of low food density such as in dry conditions,criss crossing through others patches.

Report this post »

Cash Cow says...
4:01am Sat 14 Jul 12

Excuse my ignorance please, I get confused sometimes, I thought TB and Mad Cow were a former PM and his wife. Reading this ridiculous latest round of governmental twaddle, perhaps I am not as daft as they sound! Seriously, what right does any person have to order the killing of 40,000 wild animals, who do they think they are? Also who says our lads in the military would just agree without question to shoot thousands of badgers, I would definately refuse to become involved in such an undertaking. Badgers and cows have co-existed for thousands of years before guns were invented. Furthermore isn't it about time we dropped the "annual disease" strategy, no seems to take notice of this radical way to control the masses garbage any more.

Report this post »

Cash Cow says...
4:03am Sat 14 Jul 12

Cash Cow wrote:
Excuse my ignorance please, I get confused sometimes, I thought TB and Mad Cow were a former PM and his wife. Reading this ridiculous latest round of governmental twaddle, perhaps I am not as daft as they sound! Seriously, what right does any person have to order the killing of 40,000 wild animals, who do they think they are? Also who says our lads in the military would just agree without question to shoot thousands of badgers, I would definately refuse to become involved in such an undertaking. Badgers and cows have co-existed for thousands of years before guns were invented. Furthermore isn't it about time we dropped the "annual disease" strategy, no seems to take notice of this radical way to control the masses garbage any more.
oops should say "nobody" seems to take notice...sorry

Report this post »

mimseycal says...
4:16am Sat 14 Jul 12

If it were a real disease control issue, why should something like the Olympics hold it up?

Has Tuberculosis agreed to stay its hand whilst we are a tad overstretched due to the Olympics.

Report this post »

captaincalamity says...
6:14am Sat 14 Jul 12

All wildlife has to battle to survive in this country, with ever expanding farming and building, as with have destroyed or own manufacturing, development industries, the only thing we have left is service, building and the failing farming, effect = spread of building, supermarkets and out of town shipping centres, effect = wildlife forced to relocate or die thus farmland including cows are ever closer to badger zones, nothing should be culled in this day and age of technology and medical advances. There are some people that would be happy if there was no wildlife, birds to annoy or interrupt there daily existence, if you ever get to travel through huge areas of China (as i have done on business) you will not see a single bird in the sky or animal in the fields, its shockingly overwhelming i can tell you, is this what we want, a landscape of property, shopping centres where people shut themselves away as quickly as possible to watch the next episode of un-reality tv.
This country is meant to be famed for its forward thinking, love for pets and wildlife and intelligence, yet when offered a choice between vaccination and eradication, it chooses the quick and lazy route. I used to believe this country deserved its Great....if ever there is an option to SAVE, RESCUE and PROTECT, that should be what you do first.

Report this post »

Angryoldman says...
8:58am Sat 14 Jul 12

Lisa.K wrote:
They should be using this approach with the seagulls. The noise pollution from them is unbearable. There are way too many of them, it is getting way out of control.
Most of us appreciate our beautiful wildlife. Move if you don't like it!

Report this post »

Fight Back says...
9:11am Sat 14 Jul 12

nosolution wrote:
Judging from most of the above posts the BADgers First brigade have fired up their propaganda machine.TB or no TB a lot less badgers would mean a lot more hedgehogs who are being out competed and completely outgunned by badgers and are becoming an endangered species in Britain.Next years ground nesting birds should find more of their eggs hatching,safer from the arch hoovers of the countryside,the badger and other wildlife like the often ignored litmus test of a properly balanced enviroment,the hares ,will hopefully have more leverets surviving to grace the downland pastures.But who cares about these creatures just so long as there is a saturated badger population to be propped up by an emotive,highly vocal,tunnel visioned,mis-informe

d,single issue type of person who cannot accept or admit that their favourite animal is not the angel that they think it is.I like badgers and they are important members of a diverse habitat but in some places there are far too many of them .Oh and Matlock,you are wrong,badgers do stray into each others territories.Most of the young boars are kicked out each spring and some go far afield,this is necessary to prevent inbreeding and radio tracking has shown that badgers will roam well over 2 to 3 miles a night at times of low food density such as in dry conditions,criss crossing through others patches.
What a load of twaddle. It is man that has caused the situation you describe by taking more and more of natures natrual habitat. This has forced all specicies of animal into smaller and smaller areas bring with it the conflicts you mention. If man stopped intensive farming and building expansion nature might actually stand a chance.

Report this post »

Maxwell's Ghost says...
9:17am Sat 14 Jul 12

We have already seen the results of man's modern farming techniques resulting in CJD so why the hell would we trust farmers to be right about badgers.
As for the Government they can't get something as simple as security right for the Olympics so being experts in anything else is laughable.

Report this post »

Far gull says...
9:17am Sat 14 Jul 12

Wake up all you badger lovers not all are going to get shot.,most will eventually die crossing a road at night and I bet you've all got cars and don't want to ban them or trains and they account for large no to. Might as well include cats in cull as they account for more small birds than any other natural predators. Even rspb can't dispute that! You ,that is all you badger lovers live in a cosseted world with a fully belly of food everyday , I bet you would have a different view if you lived in say Africa starving and you could not eat your cow for fear of your life because of a disease a wild animal was giving it . I bet the wild animal would be shot by you so your cows could give you and your family a meal. Read a book called peak oil ,if you want a reality check. Western civilised life would breakdown into anarchy in three wks if no oil because of no food. No worrying about badgers then!! Oh and another thing if there was a contagious disease and the only way to control the many was to sacrifice a few believe me the powers at be would and I would back them ,would give the go ahead.

Report this post »

mimseycal says...
10:01am Sat 14 Jul 12

Far gull wrote:
Wake up all you badger lovers not all are going to get shot.,most will eventually die crossing a road at night and I bet you've all got cars and don't want to ban them or trains and they account for large no to. Might as well include cats in cull as they account for more small birds than any other natural predators. Even rspb can't dispute that! You ,that is all you badger lovers live in a cosseted world with a fully belly of food everyday , I bet you would have a different view if you lived in say Africa starving and you could not eat your cow for fear of your life because of a disease a wild animal was giving it . I bet the wild animal would be shot by you so your cows could give you and your family a meal. Read a book called peak oil ,if you want a reality check. Western civilised life would breakdown into anarchy in three wks if no oil because of no food. No worrying about badgers then!! Oh and another thing if there was a contagious disease and the only way to control the many was to sacrifice a few believe me the powers at be would and I would back them ,would give the go ahead.
What a great emotive argument. I remember my mother using a similar one on me when I didn't want to eat her greasy brown bean soup "Children are starving in Bangladesh. They'd be happy to eat that!"

Pray how is my eating the soup going to stop kids starving anywhere? And possibly more to the point, how is our not objecting to a cull here in the UK going to ensure the subsistence farmer in Africa is free to eat his cow?

Keep emotion out of the debate please. It does nowt to further it.

On a purely objective level however I'll accept the assertion that badgers are TB carriers. So pray tell me, is culling 'X' amount of badgers going to stop them being TB carriers? I am no infectious disease expert but the little I do know tells me that the answer is a very definite no!
Next question. Is culling 'X' amount of badgers now going to stop the potential for cows to be infected by TB carrying badgers tomorrow/next month/next year? Again, reason would suggest the answer is a definite no!

The only way to ensure that cows are safe from the possibility of contracting TB from TB carrying badgers is to eradicate all badgers!

Given that the way the system works is on precedence, once we allow one cull, the next cull is almost a given!

Now I am aware that the powers that be tend to operate on a quick solution now and let next year take care of itself basis. However this short term approach to the problem neither eradicates nor offers a sustainable long term solution to it.

It is sustainable long term solutions we need to be looking for. Not cull now think later.

Report this post »

nosolution says...
10:19am Sat 14 Jul 12

Fight Back wrote:
nosolution wrote: Judging from most of the above posts the BADgers First brigade have fired up their propaganda machine.TB or no TB a lot less badgers would mean a lot more hedgehogs who are being out competed and completely outgunned by badgers and are becoming an endangered species in Britain.Next years ground nesting birds should find more of their eggs hatching,safer from the arch hoovers of the countryside,the badger and other wildlife like the often ignored litmus test of a properly balanced enviroment,the hares ,will hopefully have more leverets surviving to grace the downland pastures.But who cares about these creatures just so long as there is a saturated badger population to be propped up by an emotive,highly vocal,tunnel visioned,mis-informe d,single issue type of person who cannot accept or admit that their favourite animal is not the angel that they think it is.I like badgers and they are important members of a diverse habitat but in some places there are far too many of them .Oh and Matlock,you are wrong,badgers do stray into each others territories.Most of the young boars are kicked out each spring and some go far afield,this is necessary to prevent inbreeding and radio tracking has shown that badgers will roam well over 2 to 3 miles a night at times of low food density such as in dry conditions,criss crossing through others patches.
What a load of twaddle. It is man that has caused the situation you describe by taking more and more of natures natrual habitat. This has forced all specicies of animal into smaller and smaller areas bring with it the conflicts you mention. If man stopped intensive farming and building expansion nature might actually stand a chance.
You are entitled to your opinion on my views which I stand by but we have not really had a natural enviroment in this country for at least a couple of millenia but I see your point,farming used to be carried out far more in sync with nature however due to technology and population growth we now have industrial style farming to a degree.If building expansion halted or even reversed wildlife would of course benefit and so would we.

Report this post »

Juleyanne says...
10:20am Sat 14 Jul 12

What utter drivel far gull and no solution have come up with.
In your readings Far Gull have you ever come across the words
'species selective' if not I suggest you research it as it describes your views perfectly! The beautiful iconic british badger has resided peacefully in our countryside for thousands of years and strangely has only apparently only become a problem in recent times. Since intensive farming has robbed us of much wildlife habitat, hedgerows, fauna, woodland etc and the application of hideous chemicals poisoning insects the food of many garden/rural bird species. The badger has been displaced from well established habitat to search further afield for food and new habitats forcing it to cross fields where cattle graze and look for any food source available in close proximity to farm buildings. The badger is a victim of poor farming practices and it is sickening that once again DEFRA caves in to farmers finger pointing, when the real reason for TB begins at their farm gates!

Report this post »

Far gull says...
10:53am Sat 14 Jul 12

Oh juleyanna ! Guess you managed to eat a hearty breakfast unlike the two badgers I have just passed dead on the road since I posted last article guess you would blame farmers for cars too . Unless you live in a mud hut and use nothing of modern life(which I guess you do to be posting here) urban demand for urban life has driven badgers to be displaced.

Report this post »

observer18 says...
11:10am Sat 14 Jul 12

Could we cull a similar proportion of MP's at the same time, that would solve a major problem.

Report this post »

redwing says...
12:07pm Sat 14 Jul 12

As I can't see anyone else mentioning it - the movements of cattle (shut up at the back) are a lot to do with the increased TB problem in herds. Years ago when farming was less intensive you didn't get cattle transported hundreds of miles by road and sold onto others far afield. Hence the modern spread of the disease.

Report this post »

mimseycal says...
12:21pm Sat 14 Jul 12

redwing wrote:
As I can't see anyone else mentioning it - the movements of cattle (shut up at the back) are a lot to do with the increased TB problem in herds. Years ago when farming was less intensive you didn't get cattle transported hundreds of miles by road and sold onto others far afield. Hence the modern spread of the disease.
Good point!

Report this post »

Hard times says...
12:55pm Sat 14 Jul 12

But what will the Torys shoot if we don't let them shoot the badgers?

They need at least a little blood on their hands from SOMETHING. It is inconceivable that a group Torys could hold government without at least ONE blood orgy before getting voted out.

Report this post »

mimseycal says...
1:05pm Sat 14 Jul 12

This wasn't just the current coalition but DEFRA and the High Court.

Didn't the Welsh government scrap a proposed cull of badgers in March this year following a review of the science that lay behind the Government study that advocating culling?

Report this post »

Far gull says...
4:16pm Sat 14 Jul 12

Redwing gd point. All farmers would be glad to go back to that. But that like saying now nobody can go abroad on holiday. If it good enough to turn back the clock for us rural dwellers sorry same got to apply to urban. That also means no imported food either,trust me rationing would be reinstated ,wonder how may people would like to spend all day waiting for 1 loaf of bread and a pint of milk. We in Britain are now only 50% self sufficient so perhaps that would then revive our industry.

Report this post »

moose10 says...
4:45pm Sat 14 Jul 12

cull the government instead.

Report this post »

redhead94 says...
9:36pm Sat 14 Jul 12

you can easily breed cattle. you cant breed the badgers like that. its hard enough for them to compete for life in this world already and now thier chance of survival is lowered because they think killing will resolve the problem.

Report this post »

Aspect8 says...
1:50am Sun 15 Jul 12

When I first heard about this I was appalled. Maybe if they set asside designated areas for badgers, where they wouldn't interact with cattle there wouldn't even need to be a cull in the first place. This government are sick in the head and deserve to be culled, not the badgers.

Report this post »

Maxwell's Ghost says...
8:48am Sun 15 Jul 12

Far gull. Rationing would be a good idea. Intensive farming has lead to cheap food linked closely to obesity.
In north America where GM food is the norm, and intensive pig and cattle farming is carried out on vast scales like huge factories, people started getting fat as food prices dropped through the floor.
We are going the same way.
Let's go back to high quality food at a reasonable price for farmers instead of being a nation eating utter **** producing children who have to attend fat classes at school.
Sad, shameful and dangerous.

Report this post »

egym64 says...
9:54am Sun 15 Jul 12

Lisa.K wrote:
They should be using this approach with the seagulls. The noise pollution from them is unbearable. There are way too many of them, it is getting way out of control.
And the Pigeons!!!

Report this post »

Hotbeans says...
7:01pm Sun 15 Jul 12

Cull the Olympics instead!

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree