Badgers and TB
Badgers have had a lot of bad press recently and if you read the literature online you will find no scientific evidence to support a cull action against Badgers. It is not known if Badgers are responsible for the rise in TB in cattle, and it is not known whether a cull would have the desired effect of ultimately reducing TB in cattle.
Gloucestershire
A pilot cull starting around now by Natural England. This week our local newspaper announced that farmers were pulling out of the cull and so it was no longer viable.
Let us hope that all the hypothetical talk about Badgers being responsible for TB in cattle has not made the public fall out of favour with them at all.
Badgers are elusive, nocturnal and related to the weasel family. They have been a protected species since 1992 not because they are rare but because they have been vulnerable to human persecution for hundreds of years.
I saw several in a friend’s garden one time, tempted in by peanut butter, it was a lovely sight. Here is my ACEO for today: Happy Badger!