Badger cull: New licences ‘to be banned after 2022’
Is it just me , I don’t understand why we have to wait until 2022 to end this brutal outdated practice ?
From the BBC
New mass badger cull licences are to be stopped after 2022 under plans to phase out culling of the wild animals. The environment secretary George Eustice has launched a consultation on the next phase of the government’s strategy to eradicate bovine TB (bTB) in England by 2038. The drive will instead focus on vaccinating badgers and cattle. The first cull zones were created in 2013 in Somerset and Gloucestershire. Mr Eustice said: “bTB is one of the most difficult and intractable animal health challenges that England faces today.”
Farmers said it was necessary to control the disease that devastates the beef and dairy industries. Current policy enables four-year intensive cull licences in defined areas, with scope for a further five years of supplementary culling.
In a statement to the House of Commons, Mr Eustice said last year more than 27,000 cattle in England were slaughtered causing “devastation and distress for hard-working farmers and rural communities”. “Badger culling is one of the most contentious and divisive policies within our bTB eradication strategy,” Mr Eustice added. The farming community has invested heavily in badger culling, which the evidence shows has played a critical role in helping to start turn the tide on this terrible disease. “But we were clear that culling badgers indefinitely is not acceptable.
“My proposed approach will enable us to complete the objective we set out to achieve when we started the culls. It will also support our stated intention of phasing out culling over the next few years.”
Meet the Model – Brian the Badger
THE ART OF A GREAT URBAN WILDLIFE PHOTO
Here is a fantastic little video about Andrew Budziak who spends his nights photographing the animals of Toronto, Canada. Taking hundreds of hours to capture one photo, his work requires a tonne of persistence. see the video here
NASHER & BRUSH
This must be a new fox , he seems totally confused and a little unsure. What is this strange automated brush thing ?
NATURE NEWS
Nature News 1st December 2021 Wood wide web A science mission is set to explore one of the final frontiers of untapped knowledge on the planet – the fungal networks in the soil beneath us. Fungi form an underground network of connections with plant roots, helping to recycle nutrients and to lock up planet-warming CO2 […]
Wildonline.blog 
Maybe finding the right ballance between culling and vaccination…. ?
LikeLiked by 1 person