29 Comments

Horrified, disgusted, heartbroken and frustrated. Will continue to support you with all your efforts to try to stop this. Am astounded at the ignorance of MP’s, more so at my naive hope this government would be any different to the last administration. 😓

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In my opinon the culls have always been motivated by a desire to save farmers the investment required to clean up their farms. It is far cheaper to have badgers slaughtered with the tax payer footing the bill. I am appalled and broken hearted that this government are back tracking on their promise to support our wildlife inspite of what is now known about TB. Unforgivable. I live in West Somerset and haven't seen a badger or open sett for years - and this is not a cull zone - this appalling stance gives farmers anywhere the green light to slaughter anything they feel might compromise their livelihoods - facts don't come into it at all. At the beginning of this appalling cull roll out I remember telling a young farmer that slurry contained the answer to cattle to cattle transmission - he laughed at me - his farm cleared out all the badgers in his area. I will just add that recently I have seen a local latrine - the first one for years. In spite of having three farms within half a mile of it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and my eye on its location.

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The warnings are quite clear. Make promises you have no intention of keeping and you end up losing the next election and many more.

We have had years of lies, fraud and deception from the Tories, but expected that, like night follows day.

But like Blair joining in an illegal American war on Iraq, it resulted in years in the wilderness.

By coincidence I have just received a reply from my new Labour MP who deposed a well known but detestable front bench Tory.

She speaks of the determination of the new Labour government to stand up for wildlife and animals in general.

She of course is a small cog in a giant political machine. She, I believe really means what she wrote, but like all genuine political animals, she is bullied and cajoled by the front bench bullies who would rather break promises than upset the first time Labour voters, in this case the 'countryside' supporters determined to keep killing anything that is unable to fight back.

But it doesn't look good if Labour are going back on election promises so very early, wildlife protection, the vulnerable elderly, and the embattled tax payers.

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I completely agree with you Ray. W but could I kindly ask that you please don't demean animals by calling politicians "animals". I know humans are animals (apes) but other animals are far better than humans. Thank you.

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Appreciate what you said Cara but I was using the common usage of a group of politicians in the media. As for Apes I watched a group of zoologists who have been studying a family of Gruers Gorilla 🦍.

One of the scientists on site said the male Silverback took offence while he was snoozing and beating his chest ran towards the science group. He only moved about 15 feet and decided he had scared the bejezes out of them, and on returning to his freshly made bed folded his arms behind his head and looked sideways at them as if to say, 'Now I don't want to have to do that again!'

As the scientist said we were in the presence of a very assured male, defending the female and kids very ably. Fortunately the humans weren't carrying guns like the poachers.

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Aug 25·edited Aug 25

My apologies. I didn't realise that was what you meant. I am glad to hear that the Gruers Gorillas were okay.

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Please don't apologise Cara, no need. We have no need to apologise to each other really.

As for the Gorillas, they're only as good as they can be if they manage to avoid poachers.

Now there are a group of vermin that I would take great pleasure in killing.

These monsters have no qualms of killing our closest living relatives of the animal kingdom. Huge powerful Silverbacks, pregnant females and tiny young babies playing around and keeping close to mum. They shouldn't be allowed to continue living.

In Kenya years ago the government gave the army units patrolling the forests and savannah the authority to shoot poachers dead on sight. It had the desired affect as lion , giraffe, hippo and other wild inhabitants grew in numbers once again.

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Thank you Ray. W. I completely agree with all you have said ❤️!!

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If only there was some way to increase the intellect of the people in authority... ☹️

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And empathy.

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Totally agree with the previous comment by Helen. I feel so disappointed and let down by the Labour government. I really thought our wonderful wildlife had a good chance with them. The Brian May programme was very enlightening. Hopefully it will persuade the powers that be to make the right decision and stop all culls..

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Labour Starmer Deathra -

no change from

Conservatives Various Deathra

LABCON are traitors to the people of this country. Why do voters reel like punch-drunk boxers from one to the other at every election? For the last century?

Voting for either of these shallow liar parties is the triumph of futile hope over painful experience.

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Aug 25·edited Aug 25

I am absolutely livid that Labour appears to be turning back on their manifesto pledge promise to ban badger "culling" and are now even suggesting granting new "cull" (AKA murder) licences instead 😿💔😾🤬🤬🤬!!!! Are they going to do the same thing with their "promise" to, ban snares, hunting (AKA sham trail hunting), the import of trophy hunting so called "trophies" and to implement a workable roadmap to phase out experiments on animals etc, as well??!!!! Did any of them watch Brian May's film on this and does this article not exist to them then: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/06/badger-vaccination-cull-eradicate-bovine-tuberculosis-btb-farmers-cornwall-study-zsl-aoe ?!! What excuse are they using for "where vaccination cannot be used"?!! They roll vaccinations for humans out everywhere fast enough!!!! Is there anything we can do about this Protect the Wild? I have already signed every petition I can/have found from so many organisations. I sincerely hope that that lawsuit, I believe, being brought by the Badger Crowd and yourselves Protect the Wild, against DEATHRA for allowing the existing "cull" licences to continue and now to potentially granting new ones, considering that Labour's OWN words called the badger "cull" "INEFFECTIVE", succeeds!! I wish you the best of luck with it and I support you all, all the way Protect the Wild and the Badger Crowd!!

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LIARS ALL OF THEM, theyll promise you e erything if it gets you to vote for them. Mr May x Betty Badger must be feeling this terribly after all the hard work PTW we all stand by you we must get this licence squashed sickening liars the lot of them

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If the Government used some logic, some intelligence, the scientific findings, things might move forward from this cruel, horrific, destructive and stupid situation that it created.

Albert Einstein quotes:

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

''Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.''

With regards to the source of infection: infected cattle, cross contamination, infection control , cramming hundreds of animals (and by the way, some of the indoor factory farms in the USA house over 18,000 cows) together in a confined environment where they are constantly stressed and living in their own poo (look at any indoor dairy farm and you will see that there is gross contamination on the animals, all over the (hard concrete) floors, up the walls, in the troughs, all over the equipment, all over the vehicles and all over the people who work in that environment, plus they live 24 hours a day x 7days a week next to thousands of gallons of stored liquid manure which is often then spread over fields). Consider that 1 million bacteria can fit onto the head of a pin - controlling infection in that environment is almost impossible.

The Government is trying to appease a culture ( for votes) rather than tackle the problem.

But there is an even bigger problem that the government is stoking up for us by playing politics and ignoring the science: Climate Change and biodiversity collapse - because the Dairy sector (The Meat and Dairy Sector), no matter how much they tinker with it or 'greenwash', is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, land and water pollution, inefficient/unsustainable land-use (most of the plant proteins grown globally are used to make animal feed) and we can't forget that every cow, every year goes through 9 months of pregnancy, gives birth and the suffers having her calf separated from her, killed if male or if female isolated from her mother to later become another 'milk machine' producing unnaturally high volumes of milk in a shortened lifespan. During Brian May's brilliant program, how many of us wondered how all those cows produce all that milk...and not a calf in sight? For a mother to produce milk, she must give birth, but with cows, we take the milk.

'Around 2.6 million cows are used for their milk every year in the UK and a growing number of them have never stepped foot on grass and will never see a pasture'

'Thousands of cows are killed every year in the UK while they are carrying their babies. Shockingly, many of them are in the last stage of their pregnancies, meaning their calves can suffer during and for a few minutes after the slaughter.'

'According to a 2020 report, every year in the UK an estimated 60,000 male calves – approximately 15% of all male calves born in the dairy industry – were shot on-farm.

This tragic fate has been defined by many as the ‘dairy’s dirty secret’ and long criticised by animal protection organisations, as well as the general public.

The dairy industry even admits that this practise is extremely problematic, calling it an ‘own goal’:

"Shooting bull calves is potentially a massive own goal when we are talking about showing how great our industry is" National Farmers (NFU) Union dairy chairman Michael Oakes (Jan, 2020)

(Ref Animal Equality).

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Have you ever heard of Ahimsa style dairies at all Rosie Third?: https://www.ahimsamilk.org/who-we-are/

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Hi Cara. Thank you so much for your comment. This is very interesting and I really appreciate this conversation. I am a Food Technologist with a keen interest in the Food System and it’s impact upon environment, animal welfare , the risk of zoonosis and human nutrition. Your Ahimsa dairy model is fascinating and most certainly doesn’t compare with the cruelty and the deterimental environmental impact and waste in modern dairy. I removed dairy from my diet about 10 years ago and would never go back. I believe that there is sufficient evidence in independent research to show that there are health benefits in doing so and I believe as mammals, our digestive tract is not designed to metabolise mammalian milk after being weaned, and certainly not the milk of another species. With so many sustainable plant-based alternatives to dairy available now which offer equivalent nutritional value, I believe that the big picture, for feeding over 8 billion humans must involve a large scale transition out of meat and dairy. The science tells us this. Perhaps your kinder, ethically minded and more sustainable dairy model can be a part of the transition. Thank you

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Aug 27·edited Aug 27

Hello Rosie Third. Thank you very much for replying to my comment. You are most welcome and I completely agree with you! You may or may not have heard of this, but another area/model that I think can be part of the transition is cellular agriculture. Also known as lab grown, in vitro, cultured and "clean" meat and alternatives. There are 3 links here if you would like more information about it: https://new-harvest.org/what-is-cellular-agriculture/ and: https://www.livescience.com/lab-grown-meat and: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211116-how-the-food-industry-might-cut-its-carbon-emissions

but to sum it up, it is creating real meat (and also fish, fermented milk, cheese and even eggs too) using animal cells and bioreactors but without any killing needed (the animals used to obtain the cells aren't meant to be harmed. The cells taken are meant to be the same amount as they use for a normal biopsy) and saves a lot more water and land space being used than what "traditional" farming uses (although there is nothing "traditional" about factory farming!). Admittedly, I know that many people might find it alien (as it is grown in a bioreactor and laboratory, not fully taken from an animal) but what it promises, I personally think is extraordinary and if sadly, many people refuse to ditch meat, fish, dairy etc or even just reduce their intake of it (and the entire human race quite frankly definitely does NOT need to consume any where near the amount of meat, dairy, fish, eggs etc that we are currently. We are omnivores but the entire human race is currently eating more animal products than what most carnivores in the wild even do!), then I think this could be a way out of the killing for good. I personally, truly believe that a combination of plant based, cellular agriculture and Ahimsa style farming is the future! What I am about to say, may sound a little nerdy of me here, but I honestly even think that cellular agriculture also resembles an early version of, if you have seen it, the food replicaters that Star Trek uses/mentions! Could I kindly ask, what do you personally think of it Rosie Third, being a Food Technologist yourself? Thank you.

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Hi Cara. Thanks again for your comment. I am aware of these new technologies and what they offer. We have the answers but the politicians lack scientific understanding and the will to act. The meat and dairy industry does everything to prevent the knowledge of what they are doing revealed to their customers. Unfortunately, the whole education system is geared to meat and dairy and the Meat and Dairy industry lobby Gov (and get a lot of taxpayers money through subsidies). The badger cull is an example of how political, illogical, unscientific, unjust, cruel and backward the whole system is.Have a look too at a new £20 million project called ‘the Digital Dairy Chain’ . The money is going to the wrong places. Hope to speak again. Best wishes. Rosie

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Aug 29·edited Aug 30

Hello Rosie and thank you very much again for replying to my comment. I completely agree with all that you have said. It is truly shocking, although not really that surprising, about the millions of pounds going to that "Digital Dairy Chain" to get more people involved in trying to save mass Dairy production (when we currently need far less, not more, of factory farmed industrial Dairy!!). As you correctly said, we have the answers to virtually all these problems and the government and politicians have got the money for it, but the money is going to the completely wrong places! Mind you, I think that also applies to a lot more sectors (e.g. not building/renovating the things we need where they should be, subsidising free food and drink for MP's who already get thousands of pounds of taxpayer money each month, claiming to have a £22bn "black hole" and scrapping the Universal winter fuel allowance for pensioners whilst still curiously managing to find the money to pay politicians and the "monarchy" thousands and millions of pounds of taxpayer money each month, wasting millions of pounds for bear skin hats when faux fur alternatives have already been offered for free of taxpayer charge until 2030 and much more) than with just the Meat and Dairy industries alone, although they receive a giant and completely unjustifiable portion of taxpayers money!! If only we could have politicians in charge who have proper scientific understanding (and logic), the will to act and empathy, it would be so much better for animals, the environment and us all. Thank you again Rosie. It is a pleasure to talk to you again. Kind regards, Cara.

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I couldn’t agree with you more Cara!

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Proved that they cannot lead the country like the last country. Let's just kill all the wildlife and have none, another bastard in power!!

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Devastating news, I'm very disappointed in Labour. Same shit, different government.

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Would it be worth forwarding this article to our new Labour M.P's and ask for their comment? Can Charlie and or Rob advise please?

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As much as this news sickens me to my core it does not surprise me. Politicans are all liars and will tell you anything you want to hear if it means you'll vote for them. Labour clearly said one thing before election and then changed their tune at the first opportunity as a result of pressure from the farmers. It's the same with hunting with dogs .... just make it illegal! Thankfully my badgers are safe from culling ... it's just baiters and wildlife murderers around here that we have to look out for :(

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Well , the Prime Minister did warn us ... his father was a tool maker 😆!!!!

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lol

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😂👍

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