I understand culling as a necessary evil to maintain wildlife - it is a practise used to reduce over-population (preventing long drawn out starvation of species), and stop the spread of disease. I have recently over-come my complete and utter disgust at any killing of animals and come to see that sometimes it must happen in order to stop suffering and death.
What I am struggling to understand here is that hard science has come in and said that culling badgers will NOT stop disease spreading in cattle. And yet the vote of around 299 people, many of whom have little to no understanding of wildlife management, has led to the doom of thousands of animals, many of which will not even have come in contact with the disease.
Those supporting the badger cull claim that "vaccinations have no impact on already infected animals" , and that it will come of great expense to the country. (http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/vets-say-their-professional-body-was-wrong-to-support-government-badger-cull-8644638.html)
Yes, it is true that vaccinating already infected animals won't cure them... but there is a strong misunderstanding that culling the badgers will be a quick fix to the problem. In fact, for a cull to have any impact it has to be repeated over a series of around 4 years, killing thousands of animals in the process. To vaccinate uninfected animals would also take several years to make an impact, true, but also comes without the death of many innocents and without provoking huge outrage of the public.
As for the expense, the government estimate it would cost £2,250 per square kilometre each year to effectively vaccinate the badgers in this country, opposed to the cost of £1000 per square kilometre each year for the cull. So yes, it clearly is the cheaper option. However, when you add on the estimated cost of policing during the cull of £1,429 per square kilometre each year it doesn't take a genius to see which will eventually be the cheaper option. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jun/03/badger-vaccination-cheaper-than-cull)
It is a terrible tragedy that this vote has gone through, and many of the opposition to the badger cull will be extremely disappointed. The fight against the cull has been supported by many celebrity figures including Dame Judi Dench, Brian May, Slash, Chris Packham and our beloved Sir David Attenborough. I have no doubt that their voices will remain prominent throughout this attack on our wildlife.
Please comment and let me know what you think about the badger cull in Britain? Perhaps I have overlooked something and someone can convince me I'm wrong... because I just want to see that something positive can come from this, but I doubt that I will.
Video in the fight against the Badger Cull featuring David Attenborough and
the musical talents of Slash and Brian May.
Still trying to stick up for the badgers - sign the petition to ask the
government to stop the senseless killing.
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