Badgers in Wallbank

Badgers and foxes used to regularly visit my garden in Whitworth and once I was amazed to witness a young deer.

It is essential that our wildlife (what little there is left) is given full protection.

I hope Rochdale Online seek out the person(s) behind the Harry Yearsley Self-Administered Pension Fund and we hear what they have to save about their proposals and the considerations (if any) they are willing to make to protect the wildlife inhabitants dwelling there.

There may be little I can do about the Orangutans in the Borneo Rain Forests but by heck I'll rise to any call made to protect Whitworth's badgers and other wildlife.

Badgers are brilliant. It's a quirk of the British mindset to be concerned about faraway endangered species in other continents, and apparently not to notice as species of our own wildlife, which is just as important as anywhere else, faces extinction. Let's hope there will be enough badgers left after this cull the government are planning to start soon. Well done that lady that cooks dinner for the badgers.

Wonderful animals, I have never actually seen one in the flesh, the residents of Whitworth are very lucky. Well said Spartacus on your comments of support for these lovely wild animals too. The cull that the government are planning saddens me, but then perhaps it is necessary to stop the spread of disease to bovine species and help the farmers. That is IF this is the real reason they are doing it?

According to an eminent vet's report on the radio today, Badgers are the reservoir for animal T.B., the infectious disease that is now spreading to domestic pets-animals.

This is a problem because there is no strategy for vaccinating cattle. If there were no cows, there would be no bovine TB.

We stopped the proposed culls here in Wales and persuaded the Assembly to take on board a proper vaccination programme. It isn't 'known' what spreads the decease other than badgers are carriers and the most 'likely' culprits. Whether birds or other species 'spread' the decease in other ways has never been established and of course the farmers (as we don't want to start vaccination of cattle) who have great concerns as the decease doesn't seem to be lessening in any shape or form will take any avenue open to them to keep it off their lands. A cull was tried in Ireland and failed miserably. In fact the instances of the decease actualy rose!!!!!!!!!!!!! I predict this cull will also fail to make any substantial inroads and that a vaccination programme will 'have ' to be instituted in the long term. Sad for the badgers. A bad day for common sense.

Agree, Ray.

It's probably cheaper for the farming community and the Government to slaughter loads of badgers than to vaccinate the cattle.
We should stand up, and speak up for the wildlife in this country and abroad as they cannot stand up or speak up for themselves.

The farmers apparently have concerns that they will be unable to sell meat or milk from vaccinated herds.

Going by track record, our successive governments are not very good at agricultural policy, this killing badgers idea is based on very iffy interpretation of science, and probably useless.

There is a really interesting article on the Guardian website on this subject.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2011/aug/11/badger-cull-dont-stop-bovine-tb

At least the ordinary person is free of political pressures to support one side or the other of the debate, and perhaps more able, if they take an interest, to see the bigger picture?