IT would seem not to be Faith Eckersall's lack of knowledge on the cull and badgers, but rather Mike Fry's lack of knowledge.
The last cull in the 1970s killed 11,000 badgers, only 108 of these had bTB. This time the culled badgers are not being tested. The last cull cost £50 million and at the end Lord Krebs stated that culling would make little change, rather increased bio-security was needed.
Only in 2012 did the government do anything about this. Prior to this in 2009, 2010 and 2011 the rates of bTB had been dropping. Only when the increased testing was done, a fifth more in fact, was it found that an increase had taken place. Those scientists who worked on the 1970s cull now think that due to perturbation the infection of previously bTB free herds outside the cull zone will take place. Only a few badgers actually have bTB, the rest merely carry it. This government has chosen to ignore the advice of the Kreb trials which cost the taxpayer £50 million, and is going ahead at a cost of £1,000 per badger inclusive of police time with a cull which was flawed from the start.
C E LOCK, Frys Lane, Everton, Lymington
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