Infection by badgers is still a long shot
SO we are given to believe that a scientist at Woodchester Park may have contracted bovine TB from a badger, and the usual furore has followed.
The staff at Woodchester Park have been working with badgers for 30 years – catching them in cages at least twice a year, transporting them to their headquarters, and taking faecal, sputum and blood samples of both infected and non-infected badgers in their research area.
If indeed this scientist is proven to have contracted the disease from the badgers and it is the first time this has happened, it only goes to show that even with close contact on a regular basis, as these people have, infection from a badger to a person is very unlikely.
I and my staff at Secret World Wildlife Rescue have worked with badgers closely for over 20 years cleaning up after them, taking blood samples, dealing with wounds. As yet no-one has been infected, even though on rare occasions we have dealt with badgers infected with bovine TB.
The huge outcry from the National Farmers' Union, the British Beef Association and out-of-date veterinary surgeons shows how desperate they are to scaremonger the general public in order to find support for their draconian call for a badger cull.
Just where is the science that proves that three-quarters of the badger population is infected with bovine TB ?
Thank goodness the Government has not been swayed by emotion, but has followed the scientific conclusions of the Independent Scientific Group – not only for the sake of the badgers, but also the cows.
We sadly await the start of the killing of badgers at the behest of the Welsh Assembly, which will bring neither scientific data nor information on which a future protocol can be based. This will be a political stance that will only make matters worse.
Pauline Kidner
Founder, Secret World Wildlife Rescue Charity Somerset
Safe from abolition
IN his letter headed "Half the picture" (August 14), Mike Bennett challenges an elected representative to deny claims that the European Union is planning to "abolish" England.
As Member of the European Parliament for the South West, I am only too happy to put an end to such fabrications.
This rumour started after the Daily Mail and the Sun sought to hijack St George's Day last year. They claimed to have "uncovered" a plan to abolish England and merge the southern coast with northern France.
However, what they had really done was visit the website of the Espace Manche Development Initiative, a project that helps the two countries share experience and data relating to tourism and coastal management. Here they downloaded a map of the project area, and cooked up a juicy story for Europhobes like Mr Bennett.
There is no "European Plan" to wipe England off the map. The EU has absolutely no power or aspiration to interfere with national borders.
Can I also point out that official EU maps do feature England, and the country is divided into nine constituencies for the sole purpose of electing our MEPs.
Let's stop using forums like this to scaremonger, and instead discuss ways we can work with our European partners to clean up the environment, tackle crime and turn around our economic fortunes – as Germany and France have this week begun to do.
Graham Watson
Liberal Democrat MEP South West and Gibraltar
Directors' duty
THE man at the top should never lose sight of the fact that his success depends on that of the man at the bottom. Any fool can justify an inflated bonus and pay by getting rid of workers further down the ladder when it suits to make a company look more profitable.
The secret of a successful company lies in being able to anticipate and balance the need for your produce or service against what the market place dictates, and taking all who contribute to that success with you. Difficult to achieve in today's instability.
Directors used to receive pay 15 times that of the wage on the shop floor; now it's 75 times more. Just because it is standard practice in the business world does not make it right or just.
A good man at the top will know when to move on and instinctively know when to stop need becoming greed – a lesson banking boards and those paid from taxpayers' funds are very reluctant to learn.
Is that because some have not learned anything other than gambling, Enron-style?
S M Nutton
North Devon
Recipe for mayhem
ONE of the bad things this Government has done is to free up the regulations on boozing and gambling. Both could have been predicted by any 10-year-old to lead inevitably to an increase in social mayhem, and so it has turned out.
So the authorities in Torbay, in contemplating giving approval for a new casino in their city (as per your August 3 report), should think of the damage that will be done to their reputation by authorising the anti-social behaviour these "facilities" lead to.
The recent bad publicity given to Newquay on account of exploiting its reputation as surfing centre of the world, thereby attracting the bad with the good, is an outcome that could have been predicted – and from which Torbay Council could well take a lesson.
Let's put in a plea for civilised living in a world of steadily-debasing standards.
Peter Russell
Plymouth
Forgotten heritage
IN her article "Coastline is an irresistible lure to a mouth-watering line-up of writers" (Weekend, August 15) Sue Lawley says the Jurassic Coast is the only World Heritage Site in Britain.
She has overlooked the Cornwall and West Devon Mining World Heritage Site, which takes in a range of sites that, together, enable visitors to experience the full breadth of the metalliferous mining story in the region.
Tony Langford
Redruth
26 Comments
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by Charles Henry 1945-(diuturnity), Somersetshire
Monday, August 24 2009, 10:15AM
“:| But I'm afraid now it is Will. . We've had years and years of procrastination and excuses, all dressed up as 'science'. . Do you remember that projection of cattle slaughter if we don't act now?. . Probably a million or more in another 10 years. . . Of course, the BBC's high-jacked Countryfile program is now on the Methane Gas bandwagon, so probably that's what all the loonies are now hoping for. . You couldn't make it up!”
by Will, Mid Devon
Monday, August 24 2009, 9:08AM
“Charles - you're right, I don't have any direct first hand experience of bTB. But my family were farmers, I have worked on farms and studied agriculture (and ecology). I'm not sure that my "rhetoric" would be any different if I was a practising farmer - not all farmers are pro-badger culling, even some who have lost cattle to it, though I admit these appear to be in a small minority.
It is also true that I have learned a lot over the last 3-4 years about bTB as a disease, the relationships with farm types and management practices, as well as the relationship with badgers (and other wildlife). Almost all of this information I have gleaned from scientific publications. I don't take at face value comments by people like the NFU or the Badger Trust without following these up with confirmation from reputable scientific sources. As a research scientist of nearly 40 years experience, first as an agronomist and then as an agricultural ecologist, I have learned that issues to do with agriculture, wildlife and the environment are practically never as cut and dried as people would like them to be - or as special interest groups very often make them out to be.”
by Charles Henry 1945-(diuturnity), Somersetshire
Sunday, August 23 2009, 4:51PM
“:| But If you had had any experience of bTB Will; your rhetoric would have been totally different, that is for sure. The travesty of endless cattle slaughter whilst the reservoir species just continues to be allowed to infect and grow in numbers, has now been well and truly exposed. . We just have to keep tidying up the loose ends. . And I'll bet you didn't expect to learn quite so much about it when this first started!”
by Will, Mid Devon
Sunday, August 23 2009, 3:38PM
“Charles, I wonder who by now has the bluer face, you or me? You know nothing of my knowledge or experience, so ...oh what's the point!”
by Charles Henry 1945-(diuturnity), Somersetshire
Sunday, August 23 2009, 9:34AM
“:| The ones ignoring the science and the facts Will are people like you. . Mostly those people with little knowledge and little experience who have closed minds except to the one thing that Krebs highlighted. . The fact that If you don't cull efficiently and close down setts you will cause perturbation and spread the disease further. Which in the short term is exactly what they did. . Rather like having an infected herd of cattle and letting them be distributed to all the neighbouring herds. . Now how stupid would that be?”
by Will, Mid Devon
Saturday, August 22 2009, 9:33PM
“Sorry, Dave - the sarcasm was a bit uncalled for. But my point about the issue not just being about the cuddliness of badgers was a valid one - although I suppose if the proposal was for a large-scale cull of rats the government would not be so worried about ignoring the science by going ahead with it!”
by Dave Grylls, kingsteignton
Saturday, August 22 2009, 10:56AM
“Typical Will, pick up on any truly minor point.
Substitute centuries for years
OK!
Still does not alter the facts!”
by Will, Mid Devon
Thursday, August 20 2009, 11:07PM
“Dave Grylls - "farmers for centuries have believed the badger to be responsible for TB in cattle". Now let's not exaggerate - TB wasn't known in badgers until 1971. And I'm not sure that farmers - or anyone else - have had much of an understanding of infectious diseases "for centuries".
And the vast majority of the debate has nothing to do with the "rights" of badgers, just whether or not a cull/vaccination or whatever would be effective in reducing bTB in cattle. I know, it's easy to let one's attention wander when there is such much repetition going on!”
by dave grylls, KIINSTEIGNTON
Thursday, August 20 2009, 9:33PM
“I have and will always beleive that the control of the countryside should be left to the people who have been closest to it for centuries,and understand it far better than any of us. Farmers for centuries have beleived the badger to be responsible for T.B in cattleand subsequently need to be culled.
As with most things today we spend far to much time talking of the rights of this that and the other without considering the conseqences.
Where indeed does all this end, how about mine and your rights.
Hug a hoody! ,cuddle a badger,where to next ? "kiss a rat" plague and all.”
by Charles Henry 1945-(diuturnity), Somersetshire
Thursday, August 20 2009, 3:43PM
“:| It really pleases me no end to see some who calls himself a 'scientist' resort to such base rhetoric when he runs out of any intelligent offerings.
The following is the opinion and advice of former government Chief Scientist Sir David King, as well the BVA and a clear majority veterinary surgeons. . It has been totally disregarded by this Labour government.
1. Badgers are a clear source of infection for cattle. Reducing the density of badgers in those areas of England where there is a significant level of TB in cattle reduces the incidence of TB in cattle in the same area;
2. Removal of badgers should take place alongside the continued application of controls on cattle. Genuine commitment by all interested parties to the overall TB strategy is needed if TB is to be successfully controlled;
3. Removal of badgers is the best option available at the moment to reduce the reservoir of infection in wildlife. But in the longer term, alternative or additional means of controlling TB in badgers, such as vaccination, may become available. Research into these should continue;
4. Removal of badgers should only take place in those areas of the country where there is a high and persistent incidence of TB in cattle. It is not an appropriate measure in other areas.
5. The minimum overall area within which badger removal should take place is 100 km2, although increasing the area would increase the overall benefit;
6. Where there is inaccessible land within the overall removal area, badgers should be removed on the accessible land bordering it;
The full report, including an expanded list of conclusions, can be viewed at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills website.”