Rural Harmony??????????????????

Today was made even more bizarre with the announcement of a knighthood for a superannuated guitar player with a degree in astro physics. Part of the reason given was 'services to music' - fair enough. But the other reason was his wildlife escapades, and the creation of what was euphemistically described as 'rural harmony'.

The musician is guitar player  Dr. Brian May, who hopes that his newly conferred knighthood will give his causes 'more clout'.

Maybe a few more people will listen to me than would otherwise, you know, if it’s Sir Brian on the phone,” said May, who spoke to The Associated Press via Zoom from his house in Windlesham, Surrey. 

The report explains:

May has campaigned against badger culling and fox hunting through an animal welfare group he founded in 2010 — named Save Me after the 1980 Queen song.

We have explored Dr. May's involvement with all things rural, since 2012 when that stunning piece of artwork appeared behind him, at a launch of his charity 'Save Me'. But as we said at the time, exactly what is this now ennobled musician (or star gazer) trying to 'save' badgers from? 

Not tuberculosis, as they are an extremely successful host of this Grade 3 zoonosis.  Until the disease overwhelms them in a painful and excruciating death. By which time, the bacteria they carry will have been available to any mammal crossing their paths. Territorial scrapping and bite wounding being a common way of introducing micobacterium bovis into the body. As below.

We believe Dr. May is interested in vaccinating badgers. But that route, despite the hype, was mainly to find out if vaccinating these creatures harmed them. Not the efficacy  of the procedure and the effect on the shedding of bacteria into the wider environment. For that we had to go to Ireland, where we discovered a domestic cat had been pts after several years of ongoing antibiotics for shoulder and movement problems. 

But the stand out piece from those reports was the strain of zTB that had infected the cat and the length of time it was able to be traced after badgers had been vaccinated.

The strain was unique. Danish strain 1331 used only in badger vaccines. And after vaccination:

Numerous acid-fast bacilli have been found within macrophages at the site of BCG vaccination (subcutaneous route) 371 days after administration in badgers, suggesting the possibility of persistence of BCG within a low percentage of this vaccinated population (Lesellier et al. 2006)."

Finally, we think another much loved country dweller may be less than happy with Dr. May's campaigning.  Hedgehog  numbers are in steep decline, while badger numbers are 'booming' as described in the piece on the link.

 But as we have found out,  to the great and the good, (and Sir Brian) some animals are more equal than others. A very Happy New Year.

 

 

They get there in the end

 

Following on from our last posting, which reported a significant drop of 20 per cent in cattle slaughterings, this week's press is reporting another bit of good news for long suffering cattle farmers.

Now that Doris has taken his wife out of the cabinet office, and a new broom has cleared the green blob from Defra, at last a bit of common sense is surfacing.

Farmers Guardian headline indicates a Ministerial 'rethink on ending culling'.

If you remember, George Eustice was quoted widely as saying 'we can't keep shooting badgers indefinitely'. Obviously his opinion didn't extend to slaughtering our sentinel tested cattle indefinitely and in greater numbers.  But let that pass.

Now freed of the influence of a couple of Goldsmiths, a Minister who was a supporter of the CAWF (Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation) and led by Doris's vegetarian wife, a bit of common sense has emerged. From new minister Mark Spencer, MP:

In an exclusive interview with Farmers Guardian, Mr Spencer said it was ‘wrong’ to set a fixed date to end badger culls, without taking into account epidemiological need.

Last year, Defra confirmed the licensing of new intensive culls would end after 2022, following a personal intervention from then Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

It was widely rumoured that Mr Johnson’s wife, Carrie, influenced the decision, which caused outrage in farming circles.

 Mr Spencer said: “We all want to stop shooting badgers and the way to stop shooting badgers is to eradicate TB.

In the report Mr. Spencer also points out:

“I think we need to follow the science here and look at what actually works. I am afraid you come to the conclusion that vaccination in areas around where TB is spreading to, with a cull in the middle of that area where it is very intensive, is probably the most practical way of dealing with TB."

And the way to find out if a hotspot is developing, with cattle as the sentinels of the problem, and herds nailed to the proverbial under restriction, is to use those details from the Risk Assessment which every new breakdown has from a member of APHA. 

If a new breakdown herd has had no bought in cattle since the herd's last clear test, and no cattle contact, it's 'Houston 'we have a problem'.

All that information should used, not filed to gather dust. 

You know it makes sense.

Mr Spencer concludes:

“The only way other countries have eradicated TB is to get (rid of) that sponge of TB in the natural population and unfortunately, badgers are part of that problem.

Quite.

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We are not surprised

 

The farming press have reported this week that cattle slaughtered in England have dropped by 20 per cent. Similar drops have been reported in Wales and Scotland.

Farmers Guardian took the front page slot with the headline addressed to the new PM, 'Call for a Rethink on Badger cull' and long piece including new Defra stats, from June 2021 - July 2022.

The push follows the publication of new Defra figures which reveal between July 2021 and June 2022, a total of 24,398 animals have been slaughtered in England, a drop of 20 per cent, while in Wales the number was 9,713, a decrease of 16 per cent. 

 

The phrase, previously parroted by the now culled Secretary of state, George Eustice MP was sold as 'We can't keep culling badgers indefinitely' : his political masters telling him that culling tuberculous badgers could and should be replaced by vaccinations. Farmers Guardian piece continues:

The recent phase out of badger culling in England was widely reported to have been introduced after a personal intervention from former PM Boris Johnson and his wife, Carrie. 

 But this mantra goes beyond the fragrant Carrie and the then PM, her bed mate, Boris. Defra was infiltrated by a claque of badgerists, led by a Goldsmith, who having lost his seat as an MP was parachuted into position at Defra. And not to count beavers or stack paper clips. Zac Goldsmith has form, being part of the Bow group, which as far back as 2012 was proposing vaccinating badgers as opposed to any sort of cull for a highly infectious, zoonotic disease. Except sentinel tested cattle of course.

Also involved in the plan was former minister at Defra, Theresa Villiers. All were members of the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation    together with Johnson's father (Stanley) and few more well placed movers and shakers, happily dismantling common sense in general and livestock farming in particular. 

Number 22 of 30 on this published CAWF wish list read as follows:

22. Introduce a national badger vaccination scheme instead of badger culling. End the culling of a protected species which scientists have urged makes no meaningful contribution to the control of Bovine TB in cattle.

Now our readers will remember no doubt the utterings of 'scientists' who uttered those words. And they may also remember our 2007 posting which gave the context of John Bourne's boast to the EFRA committee, of the political steer his group had received to trash a supposedly independent 'trial'.

Not that any such trial was ever needed, as many badger clearances in the years following the TB eradication sweeps of the mid 1960s had all given similar results, with Thornbury, Glos the most successful. We asked why this should be. And the PQ written answer was unequivocal.

 The fundamental difference between the Thornbury area and other areas [] where bovine tuberculosis was a problem, was the systematic removal of badgers from the Thornbury area. No other species was similarly removed. No other contemporaneous change was identified that could have accounted for the reduction in TB incidence within the area" [157949] 

 

So as the new team at Defra take on the 'green blob' we wish them well. They would also be advised to research badger vaccination - thoroughly. As we have done. This posting from 2014 gives a fair overview. And please do not forget that dead cat.

(Cartoon originally shown with permission of the late Ken Wignall, after publication in Farmers Guardian)

Our industry deserves far better than the creative inertia which has battered it for the last several decades. 

'World leading' - at something

 

Minister for Defra, Victoria Prentis is quoted recently as describing the Department's plans for biosecurity as a 'top priority' to protect consumers, and reassure trading partners of UK standards of animal and plant health.

She said:

Biosecurity remains a top priority for the Government, not only to protect consumers, but also to ensure that trading partners and industry have strong assurance of the UK's standards of food safety, animal and plant health.

On 16 February 2022, the Government also announced the allocation of £200 million for a programme of investment into world-leading research facilities to boost the UK’s fight against zoonotic diseases, including avian flu and bovine tuberculosis. The money will be spent on a state-of-the-art revamp of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) scientific laboratories at Weybridge – enhancing the UK’s already world-leading scientific and veterinary capability.

 Those 'world leading'  facilities will of course match our world leading  (or at least European) statistics' in the incidence of zoonotic Tuberculosis in our oft tested cattle. 

An extract from that paper explains:

During 2019, the overall EU proportion of cattle herds infected with, or positive for, TB remained very low (0.8%, which was 16,420 out of 1,961,990 herds). 

Fourteen MS reported no case of TB in cattle (Belgium, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden). 

 TB in bovine animals was reported by 14 MS and was heterogeneous and much spatially clustered with herd prevalence ranging from absence to 11.7% within the United Kingdom in England.

At least we are 'world leading'  at something.

So as imports pour into our increasingly forested, re-wilded and concreted country, via hastily concocted trade deals from areas of the world where 'standards' are debateable and exotic diseases rife,  Ms Prentis’s world leading facility will certainly be needed in the future.

Ever decreasing circles

We have not posted anything on this site for six months, mainly because what we are seeing and hearing, reading and growling over is repeated guff. Rinse and repeat, ad infinitum. Hence the headline - Ever decreasing circles.

Even this week, the Guardian  has the headline, 'Badger culls do not prevent cattle TB'. Really?

Of course what they should have said was half hearted political culls, reduce, but do not clear zoonotic TB from cattle. Historic data shows the effects of a cull in graphic detail:

And our Parliamentary Questions, almost two decades ago gave an unequivocal answer to the question, just why was Thornbury so successful?

"The fundamental difference between the Thornbury area and other areas in south west England, where bovine tuberculosis was a problem was the systematic removal of badgers from the Thornbury area. No other species was removed. No other contemporaneous change was identified that could have accounted for the reduction in TB incidence within the area." [157949] 24th March 2004. Col. 824W 

'Reduction' is a huge understatement there, because NO cases of TB in cattle were found in at least a decade after the badger clearance.

The RBCT, on which the current culls were based, was a shambles. And never expected to deliver anything other than that which its political masters intended.  And its master in chief, one Professor John Bourne said exactly that  to the Efra Committee in 2007, with what was described as a 'smirk' on his face. 

Taking out 70 per cent of badgers, from 70 per cent of disparate patches of land, some with 'No Entry' signs, was never going to be the whole and complete solution. But it survived Judicial Reviews and farmers put their collective hands in pockets and after a couple of pilot schemes, the cull areas were off. It has been observed that with hard boundaries of for example, the coast, or indeed another cull area, success was increased substantially. 

Management of a TB infected wildlife population cannot be abandoned when it affects our cattle and many other mammals. Our industry has invested too much in the face of misplaced anthropomorphic sentimentalism and unchallenged, downright lies.

Even now, our current Secretary of State, the echo chamber that is George Eustice is prattling on about vaccinating badgers.  Why? His own department has spent oodles of taxpayer's money   doing just that and found it has had no effect of cattle TB whatsoever. (That link also has reference to the Brunton report, which logs impressive data from the cull areas.)

But we digress. The exudate from a vaccinated badger, a unique Danish strain of m.bovis, only used in badger vaccines,  and available for over 300 days after administration, has killed at least one cat. 

To re-phrase that, one cat that has been examined, its TB riddled body pm'd, lesions spoligotyped and papers written up and published. There may be more.

And so the circles continue. We wrote in 2006 about Bronze Age burial mound  at Brownslade, Pembrokeshire, being excavated. And again in 2016 similar sacrilege inflicted on a graveyard. Now the same thing is happening in Dudley,  where an 88 year old pensioner is finding human bones, including skulls, gathered from a nearby graveyard, scattered across her garden, the Telegraph reports. 

This overgrown rat, with a white stripe down its face has acquired more 'rights' than the rest of us put together. Unwelcome, but untouchable. Unmoveable. 

While researching this catch up posting, I came across a piece we published last year, comparing this country to a banana republic and if you follow the money trail of repeated 'research', obfuscation and downright lies told by successive administrations concerning zoonotic tuberculosis, now hanging on the coat tails of climate change, (kill a cow - fly a plane?) the conclusion can only be that we are there. 

Enjoy.