Thanks for the link. It really shows how backwards we are when it comes to this subject. Other countries are protecting badgers and other animals from being made into bags, while we are still killing them in the thousands for a cause based on no fact!

Yes they definitely have it right. Lets hope common sense prevails!

am i right in saying that a badger is an endangered species? if it is then this is unacceptable

Badgers aren't endangered, but their numbers are declining. Probbaly because farmers keep killing them!

From all the articles I've read on this subject I don't believe that the mass slaughter of the Badger will have any effect on incidences of Bovine TB. What no one seems to be asking is why badgers and cattle have developed TB so alarmingly over the past couple of decades. Maybe someone should look into the long-term effects of industrial farming and the inherent stripping of important minerals from the soil by the use of chemical fertilisers.

From a report I was reading, in the last 50 years vegetables have lost 24% of magnesium, 27% of iron and 46% of calcium. Are cattle and badgers therefore the victims of soil depletion leading to impared immunity systems??? Also it appears that the increace in TB has occured over the same period that has seen a greater dependency on maize silage (which is deficient in certain trace elements that fight against infection).

Also, I read one report from a farmer who reports no instances of TB since he started placing mineral blocks high in selenium and iodine by badger setts. This could be supported by a Harvard professor who spent 40 years researching TB and found that animals acquired immunity through a substance which requires selenium and iodine to be produced.

I think that the culling of badgers is a knee jerk reaction. Maybe a thorough analysis of modern farming methods is what is really required.

That is very interesting, and somehting I hadn't thought of before.

The depletion of soil minerals should definitely be looked into, especially if the farmer who put the mineral blocks is telling the truth.

I think the final solution to this will not be a single change. It sounds very plausible that soil depletion is a factor, as well as the large scale movements of cattle which helps the disease to spread.