69 Comments

I did fill in the consultation, it is very flawed, some of the questions DO NOT ALLOW FOR a disagreement with the culling. Bastards

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but those qs I could leave blank, despite the fact that they used radio buttons

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Yes, I too left the answers unselected but went to town in the comment boxes.

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Me too! That's the only way you can progress through.

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Only the wants of the NfkU

matters!!! money and votes are all that matters to the government (note lower case 😐) land owners and farmers think that they are entitled to murder any creatures that (they wrongly believe)interfer with their ability to make as

much money as possible.

🥴

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The consultation seems to assume that all participants want the badger 'cull' to continue. I agree that the decision will be made regardless of the responses. As an advocate of badgers the consultation doesn't give space for my voice.

Wild Justice is running a survey in response the the poorly constructed and badly worded government consultation. Here's a link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2WSGX2B

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Perhaps some MSM publicity to encourage a public outcry?

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Done it!

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These people in DEFRA are psychos. They are not fit for any purpose, let alone care of nature and the environment. We have the worst environment regulations in Europe. Disgraceful.

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Because they are connected to the shooting, hunting, landowning community. Corruption and collusion, vested conflicted interests is this government from the top down

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I just can't believe that they get away with it. I'm so over this inept and corrupt government ad their barbaric hunting buddies, et al. I'm seriously thinking of moving back to Africa where the politics are as corrupt, but the weather's better and the people are less beset on killing everything that moves.

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100% agree!

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Àbsolutely right !

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I too attempted to fill in the consultation, until it locked me out ! The questions were completely slanted in favour of the cull ,with no way to disagree with the statements . This was not a consultation - it was a statement of intent .

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I totally disagree with this cull as it's been proved that they Do Not get the disease they are accused of!! DEFRA no this too, as I worked for them in 70's and some of us knew cows pass it to other cows and Badgers are one of those that aren't a carrier! They experimented on Starlings, Crows, foxes, and other wildlife captured in the area I worked, which is why I left as they were kept in cages, including birds! They have carried on ever since but nothings been proved!! This is just pandering to farmers that don't like them, and Badgers are already under constant threat from badger baiting which is on the rise!

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Did they ever test hounds that are fed dead livestock? I feel this is an overlooked possibility. Hounds go everywhere and I think Margaret once wrote a pack of hounds were put down for having TB! Not sure where this was and it will have been hushed up. Margaret, are you there???

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I very much doubt it because as we know, the psycho hunters are above the law and do what they want. If they don't test the badgers they've murdered, they're not going to test hounds.

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Of course not. It would expose their culpability and prove what a despicable lie Deathra have been proclaiming all these years! It would prove just how ridiculous and unfit for purpose they are!

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No they don’t test hounds and I understand that dead hounds are sometimes fed back to the house and round it goes- horrible industry

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From LACS: https://www.league.org.uk/media/filer_public/be/0c/be0c9563-83b5-4e0c-a176-f2be64c12a8f/hunting_with_hounds_and_the_spread_of_disease_-_professor_harris_report_2017.pdf

The risks of disease transmission by hunts are heightened by sporting visits, whereby hunts take horses, hounds, vehicles and followers to hunt in different parts of the country, often long distances from their home base. Many of these sporting visits are made when the local pack of hounds is ill and unable to operate. Kennel cough is often the cause, but more significant diseases can also be involved. Hunts were making sporting visits to the Kimblewick Hunt’s country when their hounds were quarantined due to the most extensive outbreak of bovine tuberculosis ever recorded in dogs in Britain

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I live in Switzerland which has a LOT of cows. NO-ONE has suggested culling badgers! Nor do we have TB.

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Please write to our disgraceful government and tell them how to do it! Perhaps we should get some Swiss influence in Deathra!

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Hi Rosemary. Is there an email address I can write to? Here badgers are protected. Everyone knows that ALL animals can spread TB, not just badgers. Best Didi email address: didi-magnin@bluewin.ch

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The website which is supposed to give the contact information, but makes it a bit complicated because they don't really want you to, (lol) is : https://www.gov.uk/guidance/contact-defra although Rob or Charlie at PTW might be able to give you the best way of contacting them.

As I mentioned in a different post, hounds fed dead livestock from farms could also be a source off the disease spreading. Thanks for contact, good luck!

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It's shameful not just a sham. I would love to adopt a badger but I already adopted a hedgehog with Protect the Wild some time ago and subscribe to other animal charities and on an old age pension not so easy, sorry.

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Hi Elaine. You never need apologise to us -you do more than most already and just by being here and using your voice you are doing more than the majority will ever do. Thank you!

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I’m also a pensioner but have left funds in my will to this and some other organisations - worth a thought

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Hi Heather. I hope we won't see any of that money for a long time yet, but that is incredibly kind of you, thanks so much! Really appreciated.

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That's a great idea Heather, but you do need to have the funds to begin with.

When a person dies intestate, and the curcumstances dictate that their money goes to the reining monarch, in this case King Charles, I think that money should be put into preserving wildlife and our natural world, and repairing the damage that has been done. One could hardly claim that the King needs it !

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I will have funds in my property if not in savings and I won’t die intestate as I have a will. I would encourage everyone of any age to make a will so whatever they have goes to who they want it to go to. I don’t think anything should go to the state but to a mix of charities- or maybe to pay for funerals for those that die with nothing - anything but the state or Monarchy!

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I've done the same but they will be seeing it sooner than yours unless it is soaked up by some greedy nursing home.

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We never know when or how. I’ve lost friends at 58 and 69 recently, I’m 70. It is what it is

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Ain't that the truth. Some of us just don't have enough beanz to support all the causes we believe in. Thank you Elaine.

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The consultation is a total sham, the way its worded is one sided, biased towards the insane destruction of these wonderful animals. I've used the comment boxes to highlight the baise & that under law they could face prosecution for their crimes. I may be prosecuted for my replies, but fuck em, I've had enough of this government 😤 & I want them gone.

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Alex Thompson on C4 might be interested. Explaining the complexities of the science and the government's dodgy data though would probably require a documentary.

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Good kick to you and Wild Justice with the legal challenge. 🤞🦡🦡🦡

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I have also completed the consultation. As others have said, some of the questions drive you toward an answer and don't have an option to disgree with culling. I have repeated in it, time and again, that all decision making MUST be based on science and data, and must be made public so those issuing licences can be held to account, plus this also prevents "In my opinion" statements from officials without the relevant knowledge to make such opinion-based decisions.

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I've read the 'consultation' and it's clear from the beginning that they have already decided what they are going to do, making any 'consulting' utterly pointless. After wading through the pages of 'technical' information, no doubt designed to put off the average lay-person, the questions are then biased, with the assumption that culling will continue and have no ability to say that culling should stop in any of the options.

They do not state a clear objective, instead use nebulous terms like 'disease control benefits' and even state that their 'over-arching' objective is economically led with little regard for animal welfare. They don't define what they mean by 'humane' but insist past and current culls are 'humane' despite so much evidence to the contrary by most people's standards

Despite the trial of a cattle TB vax nearly being complete, the only mention of that is way down on page 30 after all the questions have been asked. Presumably because it's cheaper to just shoot badgers.

Utterly shameful, manipulative document.

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All I'm saying is evil bastards, disgusting

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Damn it I hit the “No” button without reading the headline properly and I suspect I’m not the only one. It might have been better to write “do you agree with Defra”

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I take it that all culled badgers have been tested for bovine TB. If not then there is zero evidence that all badgers in these areas are infected.

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Hi George. No the culled badgers are not tested., they are simply incinerated.

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None, no they do no tests in culled badgers

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Fox hunting is widely taking place - still - and it is no secret that TB can be contracted by fox hounds and carried by them as they go around an area and run through farmland where there is livestock. Those who work with hounds can also get TB. Read Defra on the subject!

There are always properties where hygiene is not up to standard.! No one casts a stone at

Hunts! I wonder why!?

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Totally agree and have been making this point myself. Feeding dead stock to hounds is an inevitable high risk factor and hounds could be spreading the disease to all others.

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