6 Realities of Fox Hunting

Our thoughts about the famous Cracked.com.

Re: 6 Realities of Fox Hunting

Postby gisambards » Tue Feb 09, 2016 9:55 am

cmsellers wrote:And what's the deal with badger "culls"?


Sometimes there are outbreaks of disease among the badger population, as happened recently. When this happens, it places livestock at risk nationwide, as those diseases can be transmitted to them. As such, it's sometimes necessary to cull the badger population if one of those outbreaks is ongoing.
Unlike fox hunting, badger culls are a debate - one side saying the badgers should live, effectively because they're cute, the other side saying it's more important to protect livestock. I'm definitely on the latter side, as the loss of large amounts of a farmer's livestock is no joke, especially in this economy.
  • 5

User avatar
gisambards
TCS Junkie
TCS Junkie
 
Posts: 2088
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2015 11:45 pm
Show rep

Re: 6 Realities of Fox Hunting

Postby CarrieVS » Tue Feb 09, 2016 10:57 am

gisambards wrote:Unlike fox hunting, badger culls are a debate - one side saying the badgers should live, effectively because they're cute.


In fact, many people oppose badger culling primarily because of its apparent lack of effectiveness.

The culls don't manage to kill every badger in the area, and the surviving badgers are displaced and so spread TB more than they otherwise would have. Provided you cull over a big enough area there is a net reduction in TB transmitted to livestock, but the overall benefits are small and likely not cost-effective, and if culling is done poorly or over a small area it causes more bovine TB infections than it prevents.

The current evidence, so far as I can find, is that increasing TB testing in cattle is more effective than culling badgers - the tests have a high incidence of false negatives, so infections in herds that previously tested negative may well (one source says most often 'by far') result from other cattle with undetected infections, not from badgers. Additionally, vaccination of badgers also provides modest benefits, without the risks of culling or the animal welfare and conservation concerns.
  • 5

A Combustible Lemon wrote:Death is an archaic concept for simpleminded commonfolk, not Victorian scientist whales.
User avatar
CarrieVS
TCS Redshirt
TCS Redshirt
 
Posts: 7103
Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2013 7:43 pm
Location: By my wild self in the wet wild woods waving my wild tail
Show rep
Title: Drama Llama

Re: 6 Realities of Fox Hunting

Postby FieldMarshalFry » Tue Feb 09, 2016 12:48 pm

it's better to vaccinate the cattle, but the farmers don't want that for... reasons, I don't think I've ever heard their reason for opposing it
  • 0

Supreme Commander of the Imperial Royal Cracked Army (also The Comments Section Militia), currently commanding the retake of the Troll Mines of 4chan in World Internet War 1, direct superior to Major. General Obvious, General Ignorance and General Knowledge.
User avatar
FieldMarshalFry
TCS Sithlord
TCS Sithlord
 
Posts: 1505
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:30 am
Show rep
Title: Field Marshal of TCS

Re: 6 Realities of Fox Hunting

Postby CarrieVS » Tue Feb 09, 2016 1:05 pm

FieldMarshalFry wrote:it's better to vaccinate the cattle, but the farmers don't want that for... reasons, I don't think I've ever heard their reason for opposing it


It's banned by the EU as there is no vaccine currently licensed for use in cattle. Additionally, the TB vaccine doesn't give as much protection as could be wished for, so it's unlikely that cattle vaccination, if/when it's eventually permitted (research is taking place to determine if vaccination would be effective, with a goal of eventually removing the ban) would be sufficient to eradicate TB on its own.

It's also worth pointing out that vaccinated cattle can give a positive result when tested for TB, which would be an issue since a vaccinated animal can't be assumed to be definitely TB free.
  • 5

Last edited by CarrieVS on Tue Feb 09, 2016 1:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
A Combustible Lemon wrote:Death is an archaic concept for simpleminded commonfolk, not Victorian scientist whales.
User avatar
CarrieVS
TCS Redshirt
TCS Redshirt
 
Posts: 7103
Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2013 7:43 pm
Location: By my wild self in the wet wild woods waving my wild tail
Show rep
Title: Drama Llama

Re: 6 Realities of Fox Hunting

Postby FieldMarshalFry » Tue Feb 09, 2016 1:08 pm

that makes more sense, though the Farmers Union does seem to take the position that it should be able to shoot small adorable creatures whenever it wants
  • 0

Supreme Commander of the Imperial Royal Cracked Army (also The Comments Section Militia), currently commanding the retake of the Troll Mines of 4chan in World Internet War 1, direct superior to Major. General Obvious, General Ignorance and General Knowledge.
User avatar
FieldMarshalFry
TCS Sithlord
TCS Sithlord
 
Posts: 1505
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:30 am
Show rep
Title: Field Marshal of TCS

Re: 6 Realities of Fox Hunting

Postby gisambards » Tue Feb 09, 2016 3:10 pm

FieldMarshalFry wrote:that makes more sense, though the Farmers Union does seem to take the position that it should be able to shoot small adorable creatures whenever it wants

Well, pests can be a serious problem for farmers. I am vehemently opposed to fox hunting as a sport, but I still think farmers should be allowed to shoot foxes on their land. Even one fox can kill a lot of chickens.
  • 5

User avatar
gisambards
TCS Junkie
TCS Junkie
 
Posts: 2088
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2015 11:45 pm
Show rep

Previous

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests