The Badger cull expansion is a stupid move, and shows that the UK government doesnt use the best science and experts to decide its actions.
In the UK as in many parts of the world we have a problem with BTB or mad cow disease. In South Africa the reserved for the btb is in wild lions particularly in the Kruger national park.
The government in a move to try to deal with the problem started culling the badgers 2013 in Gloucestershire and Somerset.
Now there is several problems with coming animals of this sort to control this illness. The main one is the fact that by killing badgers, the badgers in the surrounding area will roam further in order to find new mates. It was suspected that while culling may reduce bovine tuberculosis in the middle of the cull zone, it may have a smaller or negative result in the area surrounding this.
In the initial cull trials in Somerset and Gloucestershire, it was found to be true. The center of the cull zone, there was a small reduction in bovine tuberculosis. However in the area surrounding this (an area significantly larger) there was a significant increase in the spread of bovine tuberculosis.
Despite this the government pushed on. In further culling zones the same thing was shown. Eventually the government changed it’s rules and stopped taking scientific measurements to hit its own targets.
The fact that without the rules about the length of time the cull is likely to have the opposite impact as desired, as was shown in the initial trials was ignored. Indeed these t culls did not appear to have any scientific justification whatsoever, they were merely carried out to placate a vocal and powerful lobby, the damage that this policy would cause to farmers.
And now the government has decided to hugely expand this foolish culling behavior. It has been proved not to work, yet the government ploughs on. More bizarre is few months ago they basically cancel the cull completely.
Why have they gone back on their word, intention to do this saying that not only damage a wild species in the UK but will also damage the farmers that they reportedly wish to help.
The ranks of people who have stood up to stand against this latest stupid u turn, include Jane Goodall, Virginia McKenna and Chris Packham.
The expansions would include areas where badgers have not been culled before, and bizarrely include Lincolnshire a part of the country considered to be a low risk TB area.
They expect to kill the red 65000 badges in this latest cull. If a similar pattern to previous cull is seen this could make the situation dramatically worse. Bizarrely there has been some stupid behavior where government has pointed at the increase in BTB in areas where they have culled reason to continue culling despite the fact this points in the opposite direction.
It is unclear why the government is incapable of recognizing the scientific facts in front of them, however if they do not change direction soon they will make the situation far worse. They have already largely destroyed the UK’s reputation as a place good at conserving wildlife.