[News] GBBM - the Great British Badger Massacre

I've got an active badger sett in the garden; not seen any yet though. Will try to lure them closer with sausages - not any I like though as they'll disappear before making it down there...

Wardy's twin said:

So you insult people as the main thrust of your argument as you know you can't win on moral or factual grounds.

Badgers are not the problem its the way man has f*cked the environment. The culling is not the solution and TB has increased mainly since checks on animal movements were relaxed. Badgers surely do take hedgehogs and ground nesting birds but they are the tip of the iceberg not the main villain. Farming practises need looking at - a recent study has shown that putting sheep in marginal areas has also had an impact on ground nesting birds (trampling them) and sheep also spread TB so why not cull them?

Culling is not the solution to TB , it won't be eradicated by killing all the badgers. The cull needs to stop to allow a proper countryside plan to be put in place backed by proper science rather than those with a vested (financial) interest. Culling is popular because its a money spinner for people who shoot.

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I've insulted Oddie and Packham as I think they are media clowns who pander to ill informed masses and play on their respective illnesses to allow them to get away with saying what they like. I've not used any insults, but you've sworn in your response, so get off the moral step eh?
I don't care if the arguement is not moral (I shoot, birds, not mammals, so if you have a problem with that as well, I really don't give a stuff). Factually, you're not winning either, your opinion and facts that are fed by the people you follow, I'll base mine on documented fact and observation through a lifetime of country living and conservation (yes shooters can be conservationist too, but I doubt you believe that coz its an inconvenient truth ignored by Packham and Co.).

I'll leave it there, life's to short to engage with those who believe anything they see on Autumnwatch

Dr Q said:

I've insulted Oddie and Packham as I think they are media clowns who pander to ill informed masses and play on their respective illnesses to allow them to get away with saying what they like. I've not used any insults, but you've sworn in your response, so get off the moral step eh?
I don't care if the arguement is not moral (I shoot, birds, not mammals, so if you have a problem with that as well, I really don't give a stuff). Factually, you're not winning either, your opinion and facts that are fed by the people you follow, I'll base mine on documented fact and observation through a lifetime of country living and conservation (yes shooters can be conservationist too, but I doubt you believe that coz its an inconvenient truth ignored by Packham and Co.).

I'll leave it there, life's to short to engage with those who believe anything they see on Autumnwatch

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Chris Packham Conservationist of the Year 2014 in the Birders Choice Awards, Honourary Doctor of Science from Southampton Uni (he graduated from there) and a CBE for services to wildlife, and nature conservation.
No quite just Autumnwatch, is it?

Goldstone1976 said:

I've got an active badger sett in the garden; not seen any yet though. Will try to lure them closer with sausages - not any I like though as they'll disappear before making it down there...

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Same. I don't really mind them although the can destroy your lawn some years.

Dr Q said:

I've insulted Oddie and Packham as I think they are media clowns who pander to ill informed masses and play on their respective illnesses to allow them to get away with saying what they like. I've not used any insults, but you've sworn in your response, so get off the moral step eh?
I don't care if the arguement is not moral (I shoot, birds, not mammals, so if you have a problem with that as well, I really don't give a stuff). Factually, you're not winning either, your opinion and facts that are fed by the people you follow, I'll base mine on documented fact and observation through a lifetime of country living and conservation (yes shooters can be conservationist too, but I doubt you believe that coz its an inconvenient truth ignored by Packham and Co.).

I'll leave it there, life's to short to engage with those who believe anything they see on Autumnwatch

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One's opinion is always going to be formed by background and sources of information and experience. So when I see the countryside alliance say terriermen are deployed on trail hunts because they might be needed you sort of see behind the lies that certain organisations put up. Most hunts don't lay trails.

My neighbour shoots mammals , birds and fishes. He eats the deer and rabbits he shoots so I can have no argument with him as I eat meat. In fact it could be argued that those animals have had a much better life in the wild. I took him to task because he told me he had previously shot foxes, I asked why and he answered that because he was employed to do it by a woman (who had just moved into the countryside) who had the idea that she wanted free ranging chickens that she would not have to put away. I told him my strong thoughts he was wrong and surely he understood that all what would happen is another fox would just turn up.

I don't know what sort of birds you shoot but IMO putting in false habitats as to allow shooting grouse and pheasants is not good for native species. I am sure there are some pluses but also a lot of minuses which given the pressure on wildlife need to addressed.

The thread was specifically about culling badgers to curtail TB, the evidence is stacked against the cull and its impact on TB reduction and that is why it should be stopped. If there is hard evidence to say badgers are the sole cause of the demine of hedgehogs then that might put another spin on it but let's be clear this cull would not happen just to protect hedgehogs it about pressure put on the government by the NFU.

The badger cull is a ****ish plan.

I love nature me.

Whilst I'm at it, anyone involved in the killing of birds of prey, needs a trip to the woodchipper.