Will you sign this petition to stop the culling of our Badgers.

[ladybirder]

I have just watched Brian May talking about Team Badger on BBC1 and he is asking for people to sign it. All the information is here.
http://www.teambadger.org/
Thank you.

[DTCwordfan]

I should have used the word "some" or "many", gness. Sure there are folk who know something about badgers as they follow of them and are members of various "setts" (?) of nature trusts etc, and they know far more about them than me........so apologies for that slur. Christ, one has to be specific here , even at 8.15am!

[gness]

Thanks Ttfn. Yes...how on earth is this going to end Bovine TB? An end is what we should be looking for.

[gness]

Yes....very specific DT...when I've just got up.....only one coffee...am Irish and a red head! ;-)
Still love you even if you haven't signed the petition... yet. Of course, if we all sign and stop the cull a real solution will be found sooner rather than......too late. x Too simple?

[gness]

And as for the attractive argument......I was part...a big part of a campaign to stop the destruction of an area In Northants which is home to adders. I hate snakes. I have a real phobia and walking through the grass where they live was torture. But it's their home and not for us to ride roughshod when it suits us. Usually financially.

[DTCwordfan]

Yes it is too simple - as I object to the deliberate emotion being out into the debate by the likes of May et al....passion is different, by the way. Threatening agri-demos is only going to polarise things not get the problem solved. Hence why I would sign a petition that emphasised the need to get to a sustainable solution, not effective socio-warmongering at the extreme end.

[DTCwordfan]

I am not a fan of snakes either and jumped a mile when one was accidentally dropped right in front of me in a restaurant in Shanghai - yes and it was alive.

[ladybirder]

Oh I see you've been keeping the home fires burning while I've been away gness, good on you. Was hoping more would have signed though.
DT, yes, the badger is quite a nice looking animal. I expect that's why David Attenborough et al are against the cull:-)

[gness]

Sometimes we need a bit of emotion to get us off our backsides. Geldof did it for Africa. Brian May..oh I adore the guy....will bring publicity and make people think. A bloody good start and more than we have achieved quietly. If some warmongering makes us more aware of our world so be it...I know there will be the professional demonstrators causing trouble but I can't help that.
I have no intention of leaving this world a poorer place because I didn't care, couldn't be bothered or because I let the wool be pulled over my eyes. Or worse, didn't think I could make a difference. x

[gness]

Morning Ladybirder. Can be a bit like a dog with a bone at times. Drove husband nuts.
I think when people say we are influenced by an attractive animal they can't see that we are concerned, not just with badgers, but with the bigger picture of how we treat our planet. But then anyone in favour of this cull must be very inward looking indeed.

[seadogg]

It goes without saying, DT, that an alternative has to be found. Although we are cropland here one can feel for the dairyman's problems these days.

We have a sett within 30 metres of the house and this is well protected but there is a problem with badger baiting and digging in the wild woods below us.

[DTCwordfan]

Ladybirder, it wasn't me that raised the beauty of the animal though I have some sympathy to that argument - if it was a rat that was the cause, then I suspect that people wouldn't be as bothered plus there are 80 mln of them in the UK they estimate -imagine culling those numbers?

I am all for change in this (and other things) but "more behind the scenes. I have found that usually to be more effective, not that I am not advocating that there is a place for protestation, as long as it does not become violent, and, unfortunately, this may become that as all sorts of anti-ruralists will jump on the bandwagon, possibly even the likes of the anarchists as an opportunity to cause strife.

[ladybirder]

Oh yes seadogg, badger baiting was/is a pastime for some in the Yorkshire Dales. A scary place on the moors at night when you are on your own and you come across this barbaric activity. Not nice people to meet.

[DTCwordfan]

We has with it around here too, plus poaching, usually folk from out of Truro - went on a field chase with the neighbour farmer last year with the police steaming up the other side - that was for deer - fun and hairy!

[gness]

I'm told that the pilot cull, over 300 farms, will cost £360,000. This will be met by the farmers.
If I had this money to throw at a useless project I would think about funding vaccine research.

[ganesh]

They will be discussing it on the Wright Stuff in a minute.It's all unnecessary and yet another way for farmers to destroy the countryside (hedgerows and intense farming etc before anyone asks).So many people are against this,probably the majority,but we all know it's going to happen and we can't stop it! Vaccination is the answer but we apparently can't afford it.
(PS.I actually have a different problem with a badger who keeps getting in my garden,digging it up for grubs-AND getting into the bin which I now have to padlock!!!!Bless.)

[ladybirder]

Thanks ganesh for The Wright Stuff tip, I don't usually watch this but I shall now.

[LoftyLottie]

Signed and confirmation email received. Thanks for this ladybird. I hope people realise that most country dwellers are violently opposed to this. There are a certain group of 'country people' that are quite happy to shoot anything, in fact I honestly believe they get great pleasure from it.

[ladybirder]

Thanks LL. Unfortunately you are right.

[gness]

They do Lottie. When I asked who on earth were they going to get to carry out this cull......as if I didn't know.....I was told......Those who enjoy it. No doubt I will be now told it's a job that has to be done. Poppycock.

[ladybirder]

No wonder the guy who will be shooting them didn't want to show his face on Country File the other night.