Badger Cull

Snail · Post by **Snail** » 06 Mar 2020, 17:21

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/badg ... 78026.html

Plans to end the badger cull via vaccinations.

Maybe something to do with leaving the EU?

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 06 Mar 2020, 17:41

Snail wrote:https://www.independent.co.uk/news/badg ... 78026.html

Plans to end the badger cull via vaccinations.

Maybe something to do with leaving the EU?

A couple of thoughts.
Â£60million to kill 100,000 comes to Â£600 per badger??!! Nice work if you can get it.
If you can cull 100,000 animals and still have problem population levels then they are not all that endangered are they?
In the US you would have no closed season or bag limits and if that did not do it they might put a bounty of say $50 per carcass brought in. Licensed hunters of course hunting with landowner permission.
And finally a question. Are they talking about darting badgers and injecting them with vaccine while sleeping? Can you do that for less then Â£600 per badger?

Snail · Post by **Snail** » 06 Mar 2020, 17:55

Ive seen loads of badgers round my way (both alive and dead) so I agree that they're probably not endangered.

I believe they trap the badgers using bait, and then injecting them while immobilised:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... te-badgers

According to http://www.tbfreeengland.co.uk/latest-news/vaccination/
Vaccinating costs over Â£600 per badger.

Might be possible to orally vaccinate in the future which should bring the cost down.

Cattle will get vaccinated too.

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 06 Mar 2020, 18:22

I believe they trap the badgers using bait, and then injecting them while immobilised:

Good luck with that. That has been tried in Suburban America with white tailed deer trying to inject the does with birth control meds. The never can catch enough of them to make a difference. They were using tranquilizer darts though as a trap panics a deer and they beat themselves to death trying to get out.
A vaccine that works for the cows will be the final answer. An open hunting season in the meantime would actually help and would not endanger the species as when they get scarce hunter interest will wane and there are always places where you can't hunt that will act as a refuge to the remaining stock of badgers.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 06 Mar 2020, 18:41

The problem is that because of all the whooha from badgers huggers the disease is in virtually all the wildlife now so vaccinating just badgers leaves you with everything from moles to deer still spreading the disease. It will go nationwide now and be endemic just like covid-19.