tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885842.post1110637095593213082..comments2023-07-15T10:28:46.810+01:00Comments on Bovine TB: Back to the Drawing Board?Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02561483930556493363noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885842.post-73073428465092425692009-06-06T07:12:03.409+01:002009-06-06T07:12:03.409+01:00The key word you have just used Peter is ' man...The key word you have just used Peter is ' managed '.<br /><br />This now endemically infected population must be managed, both for its own sake and the sake of all its spillover victims. <br /><br />The environmental contamination in many parts of GB, for which the reservoir of tuberculosis in badgers is primarily responsible, (and tested, slaughtered, sentinel cattle a symptom) is something that no sane administration could countenance.<br /><br />It is politics of the madhouse, which will come back to bite those who encouraged its growth.Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09293505337441558637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885842.post-79942999358181329042009-06-05T20:52:35.364+01:002009-06-05T20:52:35.364+01:00Seriously though!
There are now an estimated 1 MI...Seriously though!<br /><br />There are now an estimated 1 MILLION badgers in the UK of which some 35%-50% are increasingly infectious bTB-wise - the badger population must be managed - badgers must be culled!<br /><br />PeterAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885842.post-60939683086939996572009-06-05T20:35:35.115+01:002009-06-05T20:35:35.115+01:00I am reliably informed that the government's l...I am reliably informed that the government's latest strategy to address BLUE TONGUE is to passively capture live midges and vaccinate them!<br /><br />PeterAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885842.post-26343515806847762672009-06-02T21:58:56.108+01:002009-06-02T21:58:56.108+01:00Mike, define 'real issue'?
Rampant tuberculosis i...Mike, define 'real issue'?<br /><br />Rampant tuberculosis in the environment is not a vendetta against badgers but against the disease, its consequences and spillovers.<br /><br />Missed tests? Are you sure? Slow data transfer (weeks), certainly. But in most cases the test has been done. And as soon as the data shows no test results, the farm is placed under restriction anyway. Cattle going nowhere fast.<br /><br />Just a handful of reactors were found in post FMD restocks, which post movement testing found. They were removed; end of story. Some were home grown, in that the spoligotype was not from the consigning herd, but unique to the receiving farm. <br /><br />But most of the post FMD problems were caused by the vast movement of badgers after the carnage during 2001 removed their feed source and upset their ecological home. <br /><br />It is naive to assume that the removal of 11 million grazing animals in a short space of springtime, would not have had mojor effects on the animals and birds which depend on them, and the agricultural operations which supported them. The badgers moved. Found more cattle and fought for territory with the exisiting groups already there. When the culled out farms restocked, the badgers moved back. Scarred, battered and with TB as a bonus, from peturbation induced scrapping.<br /><br />In the 50s and 60s, cattle testing and slaughter + a 2m barrier fence, brought the disease in cattle down to almost zero. But in a few places, despite huge efforts the numbers remained stubbornly high. It was only when the clearance of infected badger setts was done in parallel to cattle measures, that sentinel reactor numbers dropped.<br /><br /> More detail on this both in GB and Ireland :<br />http://bovinetb.blogspot.com/2007/07/condemned-to-repeat-past-mistakes.html<br />(Click sidebar to postings July 2007, and scroll down if link won't work)<br /><br />We started this site to explain that that old chestnut of cattle to cattle spread of bTB is a non starter as far as the contributers are concerned. No bought in cattle, and in most cases, no cattle neighbours. But we do share badgers. And the infected ones are causing havoc. And unless we get a handle on this environmental contamination which the tested, slaughtered sentinel cattle are flagging up, then the spillover which we are already seeing in cats, dogs, goats, pigs, camelids, sheep and human beings, will affect the latter much more.<br /><br />The thread was about vaccinating badgers with tuberculosis, against tuberculosis, btw. A venture which we are very much against, for the reasons given in the posting by a Swiss vet.Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09293505337441558637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885842.post-52620140846447976992009-06-02T16:29:54.304+01:002009-06-02T16:29:54.304+01:00Try commenting on the real issue for once, not thi...Try commenting on the real issue for once, not this absurd vendetta against the badger. Concentrate on the missed tests, the failure of the "live" test, the way farmers spread TB nationwide after foot and mouth; the fact that a much bigger epidemic in the 50s and 60s was resolve without one badger being killed. Then, as now, farming practices and cattle-to-cattle spread were the problem. Glo'shire boySpritelyonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15595196845872684478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885842.post-34421635505732270212009-05-29T21:56:27.473+01:002009-05-29T21:56:27.473+01:00Thanks Peter. Like it.
Isn't 'Darling' in there so...Thanks Peter. Like it.<br />Isn't 'Darling' in there somewhere with his piles of pennies? If not he should be.Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09293505337441558637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885842.post-29707006194679967122009-05-29T20:44:25.222+01:002009-05-29T20:44:25.222+01:00Minister Benn to Glyn Hewinson (Head of TB Researc...Minister Benn to Glyn Hewinson (Head of TB Research VLA Weybridge)<br /><br />“Ah Glyn my dear chap – a question for you; tell me - if it takes 10 men 10 days to dig 10 holes and it takes half of them 10 days to half fill half of them <br />how long will it take to successfully half vaccinate half of 100,000 half live badgers?”<br /><br />GHs reply: “It’s black & white Sir”<br /><br />Minister Benn: “Correct Glyn – Carry On!”<br /><br />Peter Brady<br />SETTAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com