# Badger cull begins THIS Monday



## noushka05 (Mar 28, 2008)

Defra confirmed. While today NFU go to the high court to make it illegal for people to protest on badger cull land. Sad day for democracy if the injunction is upheld.


----------



## rona (Aug 18, 2011)

:nonod: :nonod: :nonod:

If you can't stand up for the rights of animals in this country..........

Who are these marksmen that are going to carry this out?

According to this
BBC News - Badger cull zone injunction bid made by NFU

They are going to just shoot them, no traps 

Badgers are nocturnal, how the hell are they going to manage that with any reliability  

This stinks of cover up


----------



## zedder (Aug 21, 2013)

I don't know much about this but isn't it because the vaccines are too expensive but surely doing culls is only any good in the short term as it won't address the problem long term.


----------



## zedder (Aug 21, 2013)

tbf it sounds very political more an effort to appease farmers who are probably peed off with having to destroy livestock which I can understand but solving the problem would be the most logical step to take.


----------



## Knightofalbion (Jul 3, 2012)

zedder said:


> I don't know much about this but isn't it because the vaccines are too expensive but surely doing culls is only any good in the short term as it won't address the problem long term.


The problem is bad husbandry, culling isn't going to solve anything, short term or long term.


----------



## lilythepink (Jul 24, 2013)

why do you think its bad husbandry?


----------



## Knightofalbion (Jul 3, 2012)

These are sentient, ensouled beings, not machines....

Milk Production: Due to Pregnancy | MilkMyths.org.uk
Fate of the Calves | MilkMyths.org.uk
Simultaneous Lactation and Pregnancy | MilkMyths.org.uk
Housing | MilkMyths.org.uk

Restocking after the Foot and Mouth outbreak, also caused by bad husbandry, helped to spread diseased stock around the country.

And a failing on the Government's part, an ineffective testing procedure. A shocking example of this...
A single cow the cause of TB breakdowns? | News | Farmers Guardian


----------



## lilythepink (Jul 24, 2013)

Thank you.


----------



## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Looks like the injunction has been granted, the farmers have apparently been harassed and need protection!! Shame the poor bloody badgers are not being given the same consideration.

BBC News - Badger cull zone injunction is granted in High Court

Had to laugh at a farmers comment in this related story about monitoring badgers eating habits and visits to farms with CCTV.



> 'No bio-security'
> 
> Badgers can spread bovine TB to cattle.
> 
> ...


Full story
BBC News - Badgers tracked by cameras in Defra project

Seeing how there is a lot of research saying that lack of bio security is one of the causes of spread, seems that according to this farmer there is no such thing, so is it any wonder some of them have problems!! Right pearl of wisdom that one.


----------



## lilythepink (Jul 24, 2013)

Its a sad day having this cull and it seems a total waste of time too.

Poor badgers. disgusting.


----------



## rona (Aug 18, 2011)

Knightofalbion said:


> The problem is bad husbandry, culling isn't going to solve anything, short term or long term.


I'm sorry but it isn't all husbandry. Those with fully closed herds have had positive results.

Sixty dairy cattle slaughtered after bovine TB found | Herald Scotland

Also it's not just milk herds which are affected Some much loved pedigree beef herds have been decimated

This guy doesn't seemed to have been able to care for his cattle more
Mayday at Heolfawr Cross - a film by Chris Chapman - YouTube

Now I don't for one minute believe that the Badger is to blame. It's about time the government took their heads out of their arses and started telling the truth and dealing with it.
A farmer faced with the decimation of his/her beloved herd needs to feel that something is being done


----------



## noushka05 (Mar 28, 2008)

rona said:


> :nonod: :nonod: :nonod:
> 
> If you can't stand up for the rights of animals in this country..........
> 
> ...





Sled dog hotel said:


> Looks like the injunction has been granted, the farmers have apparently been harassed and need protection!! Shame the poor bloody badgers are not being given the same consideration.
> 
> BBC News - Badger cull zone injunction is granted in High Court
> 
> ...


As bad as it sounds the NFU actually failed to take away our civil liberties after the judge ordered changes to the injunction. Read Badger Trusts clarification Ladies, as one sab group put it >> 'business as usual'
The NFU injunction http://www.badgertrust.org.uk/_Attachments/Resources/908_S4.pdf

The National Farmer's Union (NFU) obtained an injunction on 22 August 2013. The order was made by Mr Justice Turner who was at pains to point out that the aim of the injunction was not to prevent lawful protest. Despite this many can be confused and even alarmed by an injunction. They should not be.

A few key points may help clarify matters:
1. The Badger Trust was joined to proceedings as an interested party. They were appointed in order to assist the court and were granted protection against costs orders. The court and the NFU recognised that the Badger Trust was able to speak for ordinary mainstream protestors.

2. An injunction has nothing to do with the police. It does not create a new criminal offence or give the police any additional powers whatsoever. The police are there to deal with criminal offences not injunctions. The police do not enforce injunctions. The police deal with the criminal law. An injunction is a civil order.

3. The opening words from the NFU in court were that they were not seeking to prevent ordinary lawful protest. Mr Justice Turner repeated that he wished to protect ordinary lawful protest. The order is aimed at those who are engaged in acts of harassment, particularly harassment as set out in the Harassment Act 1997. 
4. Simply because an injunction orders someone to refrain from doing something does not mean that the injunction is necessarily a problem. For example an injunction that says "do not kill" is not a problem for most people because most people do not kill. 
5. The court hopes the injunction would be clear and plain but there can be some situations that are difficult to discern. A technical breach of the injunction may occur but this does not mean that it will be enforced. The NFU stated that it was not aiming to penalise lawful protest but was only aiming at those who harass people involved in the cull and their families. The judge pointed out that on any enforcement of an injunction the particular circumstances must be considered. (The NFU will be advised that it would be foolish to pursue ordinary Badger Trust members. The injunction is aimed at preventing serious harassment). 
6. The injunction affects "persons unknown" and the court defines this quite widely as any person protesting against the cull or participating in activity designed to harass or intimidate. This is a standard wording used in such injunctions.

The order is primarily related to harassment but there are matters of wider application:
1. It is not possible to enter privately owned land without permission. This is an order against trespass. This is simply the law of the land and adds nothing to the law against trespass. Using ordinary rights of way, footpaths, tracks, walking up someone's path are perfectly acceptable. In addition if someone walks on land without permission in almost every case no enforcement action would be taken unless a person refused to leave when asked.
2. The court wished to protect people's homes and therefore a protest should not take place within 100 metres of a home. This does not include the garden or other structures but simply the home itself. The judge was quite clear that people's ordinary home life should be respected. The limit for protest was 25 metres from a business premises and that does not include animal pens. It is acceptable for wounded badger patrols to use public footpaths which are less than 100 metres from a home unless, say, it was hundreds of people outside one house or targeted at a house. The court wants to protect ordinary occupation of a house not lawful use of a footpath. The court would not penalise helping a badger. Those involved in wounded badger patrols should always remember the overarching purpose of the injunction and keep that in mind.

3. The court is not preventing night time walks or the use of torches. There was extensive discussion about people that may use very bright torches to try and harass people involved in the cull. Disturbing badgers or wildlife or harassing or obstructing any people involved in the cull can be a breach of the injunction. It is important to be clear as to what this encompasses. The court is aiming at people who carry out these activities for "the purpose of" disturbing badgers or wildlife or harassing. This means that if someone has a torch and is on a night patrol in order to watch out for wounded badgers, the use of such a torch is proper and lawful. The clause is aimed at those seeking to use very bright torches to disturb wildlife or harass those involved in the cull. Someone's presence on a footpath with a torch may disturb a badger but patrolling in order to look out for wounded badgers or unlawful culling would not be caught by this clause.

4. It is possible to continue to photograph cull activity but the court has restricted harassment or intimidation of those involved in the cull by photography and filming and in the wide spread dissemination of this information. The court is aiming at the problem of individuals being named and targeted and as a result subject to harassment. If a badger patrol takes ordinary photographs and is concerned about unlawful culling and passes these to the police there will be no criticism and no breach of an injunction.

5. The injunction should be read with care and also a degree of common sense. The NFU would face obvious criticism if they sought to prevent legitimate protest. There is a fundamental right to protest and the courts must, when considering enforcement, balance 
a citizen's right to protest with any decision on enforcement. If protest extends to harassment and causes distress and alarm then such protestors would be caught by the injunction.

6. The vast majority of protest activity can continue and this injunction does not change that. Those engaged in harassment should be warned. Those engaged in sensible lawful 
campaigning will remember the well known phrase "Keep Calm and Carry On".



rona said:


> I'm sorry but it isn't all husbandry. Those with fully closed herds have had positive results.
> 
> Sixty dairy cattle slaughtered after bovine TB found | Herald Scotland
> 
> ...


Apparently its going to be gamekeepers, farmers & such like doing the shooting as its mainly these types who hold gun licenses. Defra would have us believe that its 'marksmen' doing the deed but as with everything else that's just more lies! Remember, Gunmen, not Marksmen will kill Badgers | Lawrie : Converged

Here are the number of 'marksmen' & the type of guns to be used >>

73 in W.Glos, 2 just having a shotgun licence and 17 just having a firearms licence, the remaining 54 of those having shotgun and firearms licences.

64 in W.Somerset, 15 just having a shotgun licence and 9 just having a firearms licence, the remaining 40 of those having shotgun and firearms licences.

I believe they get one day training on a cardboard target.

Most of the pro cull farmers don't believe its anything to do with biosecurity,( govt have just brought in even tougher legislation, no doubt to coincide with the culls so they can attribute reduction in tb trend to badger cull) farmers are not happy with improvements they blame badgers 100%.

ETA Sorry ive just realased ive jumbled my replies all up :/

Though its well accepted badgers can carry the disease not a single herd breakdown has ever been proven to have been caused by badgers. There is no tb in the Scotlands wildlife as far as im aware, the cattle could have contracted it from a agri show for example.

.


----------

