I thought you might all find this interesting after all the talk about badger culling. A bull who is sacred in a Welsh Hindu temple was not killed even though it was extremely likely it had TB. It is only possible to prove and animal has TB after it is dead but there are tests to see whether the animal has been in contact with TB and therefore whether it is likely to have the disease. This bull was found to have a high chance of having TB.

A member of the National Farming Union of Wales said "We could be forgiven if we start busily searching for Hindu priests to bless our cattle sheds. The ruling could set disease control in Britain back by 70 years."

I am all for society tolerating different religious beliefs and practices, I believe it is one great thing about Britain at the moment (on the whole). But I also believe that the law should be for everyone and religion shouldn't be a way around it. You can't have one law for sacred cattle and one law for normal cattle, otherwise the quotee is right farmers could start blessing their cattle to save them from being slaughtered if they have TB.

I find it astonishing that this ruling did not throw the case for keeping the bull alive out of court immediately, let alone allowed the temple to keep the bull. What if this bull infects more cattle? Should we just kill some more badgers to make it alright?

Sorry for ranting a bit, this story just got me a frustrated. I feel sorry for all the farmers who have lost cattle that have been suspected of having TB and then have to hear about a case like this. There may be a hearing for an appeal this week or next.

That has changed:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=To...es-cow.xml

It would have set a very poor example.

I am going to keep an eye on this, to see if the 'human chain' really does form.

Kingfisher

Latest I heard on the news today is that the bull is to be slaughtered.

I'm glad that the courts have come to there senses, it's still worrying that there needed to be an appeal on this but at least the inconsistancy has been fixed. Jane Davidson got it completely right with this quote from Kingfishers link:

"I have considered extremely carefully whether the rights of the community to manifest their religion should override the duty on me to protect animal and human health."

Just saw on the news that the authorities arrived to take the bull away.....then realised they didn't have the correct documents to enter private property and had to leave to try and get them. What a mess!

Sorry for being a bit behind on the news. I am very pleased that the decision has been overturned, I'm a bit surprised they didn't think of bringing the correct documents with them the first time but I'm sure it will get sorted quickly enough.

It could possibly have been a ploy to judge the depth of resistance?

Kingfisher

It could have been, from the pictures on the news there were a lot of people there to support the bull. In the end the police had to be called to hold the protestors back, but the bull was on its way to the slaughter house last night.

You couldn't have made this farce up.

I heard a radio interview with one of the priests, who was quite philosophical about the whole thing, saying that, in his view, it was God's will that the animal should die.

The bullock is now dead, and a postmortem has confirmed the TB diagnosis

Is the rest of the herd to be slaughtered as well?

Kingfisher

On the news yesterday the authorities were calling for the slaughter of all livestock that could have come into contact with the bull but I don't think that has been carried out yet. They also said, not surprisingly, that if they are to be killed then there should be none of the circus surrounding it this time.

While I hate to see animals destroyed, I agree there is too much freedom given to groups in this country to do as they like. The law of the land is exactly what it is, applicable to everyone, with no opt out because you believe something different.

If the bull was a farmers the rest of the herd would have to be killed, I hate to see whole herds lost and I really feel for the mosque and all who are involved with it because it must be heard for them, but as others have said the law must be upheld. When you start making the odd exception to the law, you open the floodgates to many more in my opinion.