General Discussion
I believe that the badger cull is not a nice thing to do.
However it is necessary for scientific research into bovine tuberculosis (bTB).
What are people's views on the planned badger cull?
After a conversation with a vet specialising in this area I understand that badgers aren't the only carriers of TB, deer and domestic cats can also carry it. Not sure everyone in farming is in favour of it.
My understanding is that it is not known which way it is passed - i.e. from badgers to cattle or vice versa.
I was also told by a farmer that our area (South of the M5) does not have bovine TB.
Am against a cull until there is more evidence.
Agreed. There seems to be a lot of "folklore" about spread of TB via badgers but no definitive evidence that badgers, and badgers alone, are the principal vector. As mentioned in other posts it appears that TB is endemic in other animal populations and also that cattle themselves may be the source from which other animal populations subsequently become wider hosts of the disease.
Interesting article here which explains the difficulties of assessing the role that badgers play. This article is basically saying that it's cattle which is the prime source and it spreads from cattle to badgers and other wildlife, but sounds like the jury is still out because there isn't conclusive evidence either way.
http://www.badgerland.co.uk/animals/threats/tuberculosis.html
