Ireland's farmers describe badger cull impact

[Baluarte]

Culling of badgers as part of plans to tackle tuberculosis (TB) in cattle is set to get under way in parts of England in the face of opposition.

Some 5,000 badgers are set to be killed in pilot culls in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset.

In Ireland, badgers have been culled for almost ten years and incidents of bovine TB have been falling, meaning fewer cattle are slaughtered.

David Gregory-Kumar reports.

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Video available here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22739743

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I didn't know badgers were being exterminated :S Seems like it's necessary for protecting the cattle, but still...

Thoughts?

[Albion]

Ah, so it works then after all. So much for all these animal rights people saying it wouldn't.

My family is a farming one and I know a few other farmers. If cattle get it they have to be destroyed and it brings great financial loss or even ruin for some farmers.
Basically the badger population is out of control since badger baiting was banned a few decades ago (1970s?). Some sadistic types would put a badger to some dogs for them to fight, the badger would have its claws removed beforehand so that it didn't immediately kill the dogs and then they'd tear each other to pieces for the amusement of these bad people.
Anyway, people were sickened by it, so badgers received massive protection and without predators and farmers not being able to shoot them, the population rocketed. So now the population is larger than is sustainable and they're passing disease to cattle, so a cull is in order. One nationwide cull every decade or so should be enough, we don't need to wipe them out, just keep the population in check.

There's also a deer problem, mainly that the aristocracy aren't shooting enough of them any more. There's far too many in England, we have a deer problem comparable to the Eastern USA.