South West vs The Badger
This weeks studies on United For Wildlife, I have been learning all about how Human's affect all other species on the planet. I was shocked to hear that many scientist believe that at our current rate 2-3% of all species are being wiped out. "Oh not so bad, that's fixable" I thought to myself. Until they finished the sentence with, a year! As of 2015 over 22,000 species are currently classified as threatened, 80% of them are due to habitat loss.
The essay this week was to really think about our local area and how we affect the wildlife that we are imposing on. Instantly my mind went back to 2011 when the first trial culling was announced for the South West. I remember being disgusted by it then, but to find that it has been confirmed for more wide spread practice has driven me crazy this evening! - Below you can find my short essay on our practices.
"All though not a crime, badger culling still is done in the hundreds for the South West. Many believe that by killing the badgers, the live stock kept in farms around the area are safe.
The threat of Bovine Tuberculosis in Badgers being past on to cattle is one that has many people working to solve the problem. However, farmers are more likely to shoot a badger on site, or set traps to kill them, without looking into other avenues to keep their live stock safe.
Many cattle aren't tested for Tuberculosis as the test can be unreliable. Which means many animals are being sold and moving into new herds with the disease which easily spreads. The threat of the disease entering our food chain can be on that creates a knee jerk reaction. Instead of worrying about the wildlife the farmers are taking land from, they simple eliminate them.
With the badger culling now spreading to larger areas this is slowly but surely going to make a huge impact on numbers. I believe that more research needs to go into making life stock safe, and free of disease, rather than just killing another species.
To find out more on badger culling in the south west visit the itv page here - http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2017-09-11/badger-cull-to-be-extended-into-wiltshire/ "
I am currently unsure of how to stop this mass slaughter - but the more and more I study the more I find ways to help.
Until next time, Sasha.
