“@LeBlaireau Sunday, December 25 2011, 3:09AM

LeBlaireau; it's Christmas, but that's no excuse for posting such unadulterated rubbish about a subject you clearly have absolutely no understanding of.

Mycobacterium bovis (bTB) is NOT and never has been just primarily spread by cattle. It was only ever called bovine tuberculosis because that was the species that the bacteria was found and identified in when they first discovered what was making there cattle sick. . FOR NO OTHER REASON.

People often call Mycobacterium.bovis "The Cattle Strain". . That is one of the major problems I believe. . When the bacteria that was causing the TB in cattle was first identified, it was named M.bovis, but as it first originated from M.tuberculosis (The human strain); it most likely first appeared in other animals, vermin or the like that scavenged at mans' "dustbins", latrines or graves; not the cattle.

In a relatively recent report, researchers examined the ancient village of Atlit-Yam, which has been covered by water for the past several thousand years, and which has yielded skeletons and some of the earliest evidence for agriculture and for cattle domestication. According to one long-standing hypothesis, tuberculosis initially infected people who drank the milk of domesticated cattle that carried a unique strain of the TB bacterium. However, new DNA data from the two Atlit-Yam skeletons provides evidence that in a community with domesticated animals, but before dairying, the infecting strain of tuberculosis was actually the human pathogen.

The researchers estimate that human tuberculosis first evolved around 10,000 years ago, when agriculture's emergence led to densely populated settlements that acted as petri dishes for infection. Tuberculosis may have infected small numbers of people before that, but the bacteria could not have spread widely in small bands of nomadic hunter-gatherers.

One of the pleasures of science is that nothing remains certain forever. The report can be found at the link here.

http://tinyurl.com/63cep23

Please start spreading some love and goodwill, not just more lies and misinformation.

Happy Christmas.”

“This murdering of Badgers to cover up the atrociously poor farming practices that have led to the spreading of this disaese is a national disgrace. BTB is predominately spread by cattle and if a harder line was taken to cattle movement and contact and higher penalties enforced towards farmers who deliberately flount the regulations then we wouldn't have the problem we have today. Take Ireland for example - they've slaughtered all the Badger there but BTB is worse than it ever was - proving that cattle are without doubt the principal spreaders of this disease - not Badgers. Too late to be "sorry" when the Badgers are all gone and your BTB is still rampant - what are you going to blame then? Leave the poor defenceless Badgers alone - they are supposed to be PROTECTED. They've already been persecuted by man since time eternal. It'll be a very sad day indeed when they're driven to extinction by idiotic policy such as this.
There'd be more value in a scheme of shooting "free running politicians"
Reverse this lunacy before it's too late and let the Badgers live in peace the way nature intended.
BBBadger.”

“People already know what will work 2ladybugs and they are aware of what will just cause perturbation. . The Powers that Be have just kept on putting hurdles in their way, but there will be now be an added determination to overcome all the problems I feel. . Keep the faith.”

“@Charlespk

Sorry that wasn't meant to be directed at you but I think the farmers are being sold short. If the 6 week culls next year don't go as the government expect I have an awful feeling that no more culls will be rolled out.”

“@Charlespk


Oh dear we seem to have a problem here.
These culls as they stand are going to make little or no difference.
You can ignore this/me as much as you like but it is the truth.

The farms that now have TB need to have ALL the badgers culled and until this is done we are going to get nowhere.”

“From the WFU Report. Tier Two.

Early 1980s bTB was almost eradicated from the UK. Only 100 new outbreaks were being recorded and in 1984 only 400 cattle were slaughtered.

1981 The Zuckerman Report stated that badgers were a source of TB and culling was necessary. However, gassing in the sett (underground home) with cyanide, then used, was banned as it was thought to be inhumane. Many experts believe that if gassing been allowed for two more years bTB would have been eradicated. Many more badgers have been infected with bTB since gassing stopped, and they suffer a slow, painful and distressing death.

1986 Interim Reactive Culling a new policy of minimal badger culling was introduced; badgers were only removed from the farm with bTB even if the infected badges were located on the farm or woods next door. Cases of cattle TB rose by 18% each year.

Three independent reports for the Minister of Agriculture - 1981 The Zuckerman Report, 1986 The Dunnet Report and 1997 and The Krebs Report confirmed that there was evidence that badgers are a source of bovine TB in cattle.

1997 Badger Survey showed a 70% increase in the badger population, then well in excess of 300,000. By 2009 their numbers were estimated to be in excess of half a million. There are more badgers in the wild now that at any time in the recent past Badgers are most prolific in areas where there is the highest incidence of bovine TB.”

“All of which begs the question as to what difference these culls are going to make?

I haven't changed my mind, just floundering a bit.”

“THE TRUTH ABOUT THE KREBS 'SCIENCE'

Memorandum submitted by P Caruana (BTB 33)

House of Commons - Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - Written Evidence Page 1 of 3 14/02/2010”

“"My name is Paul Caruana and I work for the a Defra Wildlife Unit (Polwhele) that is currently wrapping up the Krebs Trial. I have worked in the Unit for twelve years; five as a fields person, four as a Field Supervisor and the last three as a Field Manager (Higher Scientific Officer). I have been involved in the live testing regimes of the early 1990s, the Badger Removal Operations of the mid 1990s and the current Krebs Trial since its inception. I feel that my experience as an ex-RAF Logistics Officer and as an individual that has had a lot of 'hands on' experience could be valuable to any balanced and rational debate affecting the future handling of the current TB epidemic."



1. Badger removal operations worked well when the land being culled was made fully available, not just the area dictated to us by vets.

2. Where badgers were totally removed from a farm, that farm, after it had its infected cattle culled, often stayed clear of TB for up to 10 years.

3. We stayed on farms for up to three months to ensure that ALL badgers were caught; unlike the Krebs eight days per year trapping regime.

4. You do not need large scale culling for it to be effective if the culling effort is robust from the start.

5. Krebs had too many anomalies and weaknesses in the strategy for it to be successful. It took us four years to steer away from trapping setts that had been interfered with by Animal Rights Activist, to being able to trap badgers anywhere in order to eliminate them. That is only one of a raft of operational problems we faced and had to endure.

6. Limited trapping; eight days per year with Krebs; has little effect if carried out late in the year; the effect being that areas went almost two years without an effective cull.

7. The costs for a future culling policy must NOT be based on Krebs costings. The Wildlife Unit have many great ideas on how to reduce costs vastly should the State remain involved in it. Give the Unit the chance to see how innovative it can be when it comes to reducing operating costs. Krebs was ridiculously expensive for what it delivered.

8. The Public and the NFU are demanding that "professionals" remain involved to ensure adequate training is given to those with the task to do, and to ensure that animal welfare and humaneness remains a number one priority. Overseeing the task will give some comfort to those who fear that this might not be the way.

9. Compulsory entry onto farms is a must when considering what Policy to adopt. Making farms who receive Government subsidies participate in one of its schemes must be made compulsory. Krebs has proven that wide scale non-cooperation does make it nigh on impossible to operate effectively.

10. The Krebs Reactive strategy was prematurely ended in my opinion. The results used also showed us that, in areas we had never operated in (areas J2 and H1 which had a very limited cull) also displayed the same increase in TB outside of the areas. That has to have another logical reason for the increase, as it clearly was not badger culling related. This point has yet to be satisfactorily answered.

11. The combined knowledge of the staff involved in all of the previous culling strategies has never been utilised or sought when putting together a Policy. Why can't the common sense approach ever be used when facing problems such as TB. We feel that we have the answers, if only somebody would listen to us. Details of the possible ways of operating are being submitted to the TB Consultation committee.

12. Be prepared to change a policy, to let it evolve, is a must. All strategies have seen staff restrained in what they would like to do, often flying in the face of common sense. Taking the risk; isn't that what it often needs to make things work properly? We have been shackled for too many years by rules and red tape. Now is the time to be radical and make things change for the better.”

“They'll need to remove far more than a third og them in the South West.”