The Badger Cull... Continued.

This blog post is part of the Blast From The Past series; a selection of older blog posts, previously made private, now republished. Find out more here.


Badger Bother Booms!
Today I thought I'd return to the topic of the badger cull. I have been receiving many 'hate tweets' about my pro-badger cull opinions over the past couple of days, they have all stemmed from a tweet I received from Lee Ryan, a member of boy band Blue. In all honesty, Lee was actually very nice about the entire situation and definitely was showing some sympathy towards my personal views. It was the uproar which followed from other people that has surprised me, I think we can all safely say that the majority of the British people are against the cull. The problem is that the majority of the British people are not aware of all the problems and the reasons behind the cull, all they see is a group of farmers running around the countryside shooting aimlessly into badger sets.

@LeeRyanMusic

One of my biggest annoyances is the number of rats, deer, fish & many endless other animals which are culled daily, nobody seems to have an issue with this? You don't find people stood outside pest control offices, wearing rat masks and holding candles? That's because these animals are culled to stop the spread of disease, for population control and to stop their high population density damaging other animals or the environment around them. So what makes badgers different, I honestly believe the main reason is their appeal. The British Badger is a statement symbol of the Great British countryside, the badger can be found in the logo for the Wildlife Trusts and the badger appears in children's literature, such as Beatrix Potter's world famous book The Tale of Mr. Tod. The British people love badgers and so do I.

Tommy Brock, Beatrix Potter's famous badger

I am trying not to let myself become almost brainwashed by this almost badger propaganda and try to view the situation from both sides, in my previous blog post about the badger cull I made just 5 points explaining why I am for the cull. Nobody wants a cull but unfortunately these cute little woodland dwellers, don't wear waistcoats and skip through the woods with Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle Duck. They do carry Bovine TB and they do spread the disease across the countryside infecting cattle herds and damaging the livelihoods of many farmers/land owners, contributing to agricultural poverty.

Below is a small selection of tweets I have received over the past few hours...

Blood test every single British Badger?

They're not killing every single badger!?

I'd rather listen to scientific facts...

The more tweets I receive accusing me of being a murderer and asking me to listen to and believe the views of a member of a 90's boy band, over all I can see going on around me and all I have been told by farmers, professionals and other interested parties, the stronger my feeling for the cull becomes. The cull was inevitable and just remember '...once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman and a preacher but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer.'


MJT

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*This blog post was originally published on 02/09/2013, reformatted and then republished on 26/02/2016