this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2024
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UK Nature and Environment
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Recently, this study found that although culling does reduce cattle infection in the immediate area, it seems to increase infection in surrounding areas - due to displaced badgers spreading it - which is exactly what everyone opposing the culls predicted way back when they started.
There's also a humane alternative that we know does work - catching and vaccinating badgers https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/06/badger-vaccination-cull-eradicate-bovine-tuberculosis-btb-farmers-cornwall-study-zsl-aoe
I would be up for volunteer work vaccinating badgers.
There is also a vaccine for cattle but DEFRA won't approve its use in this country.
That's an absolute shit ton of animals. Imagine the infrastructure, human resources, costs, energy use, all that. We're not talking about catch-and-release of a few hundred acres here.
Call 'em 30lbs. each, close enough. The 40,000 they intend to cull this year adds up to 1,200,000 pounds of live, angry animal. Quite a chore!