No Carol. The people who are sure are a research institute that is very close to the NFU, they lobbied government and gave the 'research' evidence to the then Labour government. Since then several scientists have independently researched TB and cattle and even one government research laboratory. However, the then newly installed coalition went with the first report and responded to lobbying from NFU directly. The whole thing is very corrupt given that just over 70% of scientists who have looked at the issue are against a cull because they believe that vaccination of cattle is the solution and that a cull is unlikely to eradicate the 'problem' if there is one. If, as scientists have reported, other animals such as magpies who feed on insects, worms and undigested grain in cow dung are picking up the bacterium and spreading it along with 'bovine TB' being present in deer, goats, pigs, camelids (llamas and alpacas that are increasingly farmed in the UK), sheep, horses, dogs, cats, stoats weasels, martens, hedgehogs and other mammals it smacks of the first of many species culls. DEFRA are saying the cull will go ahead this summer despite scientific advice against and that in the next few weeks a trial cull in area X will go ahead. As a nurse you might well know that the TB bacterium is not that easy to catch on the one hand, but once caught is highly easy to spread and you may well see the logic that it is cattle with TB infected faeces that other creatures feed on and what that could mean. How many birds, foxes, etc will it mean must be eradicated? The government are convinced or at least saying they are despite contrary evidence. I had a horse that died of TB (before he could be put down as well) and saw how awful it is, so I am more than sympathetic toward all animals including the cattle but the NFU and government are not to be trusted. Find out more Carol, you know how and when you have seen scientific opinion make your own conclusions and not those being spoon fed by these people.
They are culling because they are convinced there is a link between badgers, TB and cattle...and when it comes to beef farms in the UK...when a number of cattle are testing positive to TB, they are sure its the badgers causing it.
Yes Brian Furzer, genets are related to the mongoose but are nowhere near cats. They are occasionally called civets, same order although known as civet cats, but unless they have escaped are not present in Europe. Otters are distant cousins, the ringadon is the Amazonian coypu that escaped and have become a pest, we have lots hereabouts. We have three species of deer plus the wild boar in numbers enough to see one or the other just about daily, they do not do as much crop damage as is being claimed in the UK. I lived in East Anglia for many years, we had many deer there too and I rarely had damage on my allotment (unfenced) or heard of significant crop damage which would have been to largely oil seed rape and maize near us. I am not not an animal rights campaigner but have seen that reasons for many of these culls are spurious and a bit like here, give the lads with the guns an opportunity to go out and have a good go. I also have nothing against hunting but have seen the bloodlust that came with a deer cull in the early 1980s where even pregnant does were being shot (oh, whoops...) despite strict guidelines.
It's not only that Brian. In order to reach the Maize before harvest they will roll on the plant to reach the husks - I have seen wide areas of maize flattened thus. There are a great many deer and, as you say, they, they strip the bark from trees. When it's done in a circle the tree dies.
I live in Charente MAritime and I have seen a Genet - it's not of the cat family! It is striking though. Our local vet, who photographs wildlife worldwide has seen civets at the marais.I never have but I've seen a few otters as well as the usual ragondans etc..
They strip the bark from trees. Forestry is an industry that... There is always one of those sickening 'money' issues in there somewhere.
Yes, David. They should have done this years ago. As well as the badgers, I read this week that they want to cull the deer too. One wise guy said to kill them ALL. So what fatal disease do deer carry, I wonder.
Yes.
TB in cows in the UK arguably does not cost farmers a lot of money as reactors to the TB test are routinely slaughtered and the farmer compensated. TB in milk is not a significant threat except where the milk is marketed unpasteurised. Badgers may well catch TB from cattle kept in crowded overstocked indoor conditions overwinter. The UK can kill as many badgers as the farming industry sees fit but all that will happen is that new badgers will take their place. The British farming industry has had twenty five or more years to get a vaccine for cattle developed perhaps had it not been compensated for "losses" it might have tried a little harder.
The problem with that is this 'wisdom' came from an organisation working for farmers in the UK. The scientists who then did research for the government concluded a cull would not work. In fact it goes to the point that extermination was the real solution and that would have caused, quite rightly, uproar on a far greater scale. Then a number of scientists concluded that badgers were also catching TB from infected cattle's dung in the fields when they fed on worms and insects who were feeding on the droppings. That is why the cull was 'delayed' and soon they are hoping to have a trial cull in one place. A more recent scientific report has also added that magpies and other birds feeding on the same worms, insects and grain found in the dung are also spreading TB. So does it mean all birds must be exterminated too as far as farmers are concerned? Then we have the deer in the UK who are now being described as vermin. They also carry TB. Where does it end? What the UK started has been 'imported' to several European countries including here.
A couleuvre - a grass snake: never heard of anyone shooting them with a 12-bore shotgun before! They are an asset to a garden in my opinion. I didn't realise they took chicken eggs either. So I have really learned something during our mini discussion on Long Legged Beasties and Things that go Bump in the Night. I won't go into the Ghoulies and Ghosties bit :-)
I would love to have one as a "family friend". I think they need their freedom in both mind and body so I would not like to try and over-domesticate them. We have a feral cat who adopted us some years ago here in France and had them as well in South Africa. Yes, they can be self assertive, very intelligent and you are a mere human, never ever the Boss. Perhaps I will come across a curious civet who will come and visit and play with us a bit.....
What a beautiful beastie, Brian! Never seen one before.
As for guarding ones chickens, I think the onus lies upon the keepers of the chickens to make their runs as secure as is possible. My neighbour has been blowing away the local Couleuvres with a 12 bore for stealing his eggs. I think that's a bit extreme and probably not that effective in the long run - better fencing...
They are present in most of the western half of France with the possible exception of Brittany and are generally to be found in wooded areas, usually where water is present and occupy a territory of about 5 sq km. They are commonest in the Pyrenees. A rough estimate on a website I visited a couple of years ago put the population in France at a couple of thousand, which is actually not many in real terms. They are under threat from domestic cats who have gone wild who deplete their normal diet of rodents and birds, chickens and ducks tend to be exceptional but when there are young, smaller ones the risk is high. People have started to keep them as pets and actually they are really lovely creatures when tame, ferocious and determined when not though.
MY neighbour says these are indeed very rare in France - quite beautiful though!
Good choice. I have books back to my first nature-outside-your-door type around 60 years ago. Also things like a Hutchinson 'Birds of our Country' and a 'Thorburn's Mammals' that are ancient and show how many European species disappeared in the 19 and 20th centuries alone. Although never a 'bird watcher' or the like, I have always loved just looking and now teaching my young ones how to identify dropping, tracks, differentiate between human and animal 'paths' and so on. Europe is as good as anywhere, just animals are different, smaller and often less visible so it can be harder to spot them.
Thanks for that information, David. I find that the birds are different here too :-) Those who migrate down South for the winter aren't a problem, like the swallows and stork but there are so many totally different ones from those I know. So, it looks like I'm going to have to splurge out on a number of books, so I can be au fait with my environment.
If you fancy improving your tracking skills then try "Collins guide to Animal Tracks and Signs -Preben Bang and Preben Dahlstrom" fascinating and European focus for the fauna.
I'll look for a little residual trunk next time. It's such a darned pity that cats are so destructive, killing things for the pure fun of it, apparently. Or perhaps a little snack for something different to eat.
Pygmy shrews. Distant cousin of the elephant in evolutionary terms, they have an 'undeveloped' trunk if you look closely at their tiny noses. They are not rodents at all, just look like them.
Pilot culling is starting soon. The objectors are probably going to get the action blocked by courts, certainly scientists see no reason for it.
They are culling badgers in Britain now, aren't they? I wonder why ..... I'm not used to or very familiar with the European wildlife really, as I spent most of my life in South Africa. Thanks to our cat, I have seen many unusual critters being brought in for our inspection, many of them still alive, like little mouse things without tails for instance.