The Poultry Keeper

Stujan · Joined: 05 Jul 2008 Posts: 465 Location: East Sussex

Janet went down our allotment this morning and all the corn has been stripped naked , so have most of our nieghbours corn too . there were paw prints around and we know that there are some badgers nearby but the crafty s*ds waited till the corn was just ready for picking and got in there before anyone had the chance to harvest them .
I plea humbly to anyone who might have an answer, i am willing and ready to make a snap door trap to get the little b*ggers but what I do with them after is not known . I dont want to kill them even though there is a national cull going on to save cattle from TB , but dont suppose anyone wants them for pets either !
Jasper Carrot and his mole in the garden sketch comes to mind !!!!

CP · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 1:13 am Post subject:

They're a protected species Stujan. I'm sure you're not allowed to trap or kill them.
Maybe if you contact your local wildlife group they may have some suggestions? Wink

Attila The Hen · Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 443 Location: Shetland

CP's right. They can only be trapped or killed under licence (which you're not going to get).

Strongly suggest you don't take the law into your own hands and trap them on the quiet, for so many reasons apart from the illegality - animal welfare for one, and of course the tricky issue of how you'd deal with a cornered and frightened badger. They're powerful animals, and can cause serious injury if threatened.

Afraid you will just have to live with them and their harvesting your allotments.

Attila

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7424 Location: isle of lewis

Stujan
there isn't a national cull to help with tb ,
it was rejected ,there is going to be one in wales ,on a small trail bases but not in england
electric fencing is the only thing i can suggest

Hev · Joined: 28 Aug 2008 Posts: 13 Location: Dorset

I've had this problem 3 years in a row and I've now given up trying to grow corn or carrots as there is absolutely nothing you can (legally!) do to stop them. Just forget those crops and enjot the things you can grow!

sussexboy · Joined: 05 Nov 2008 Posts: 11 Location: brighton, sussex

sounds so annoying for you

no there is no cull, but there definetly should be, the ammount of dmamage they do not just with the corn but also cattle,

i work with cattle so am able to see the damge first hand that is done by badgers, with TB!
something needs to be done!

Attila The Hen · Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 443 Location: Shetland

And EAE in sheep can cause infection and miscarriage in pregnant women, but you don't hear a call for the UK flock to be culled in response to that.

Or is economic loss a greater political motivator than personal tragedy?

Domestic cats can pass toxoplasmosis to people, and again in the case of pregnant women with dire consequences including miscarriage or permanent damage to their unborn child. Then there's toxocariasis transmitted by dogs and cats that can cause blindness. Yet I see no campaign to stop families keeping cats or dogs.

Or is sentiment a greater political motivator than personal tragedy?

It seems that when it doesn't involve an economic loss, UK society is able to take a pragmatic and proportionate attitude to animal-borne diseases. But when an economic loss results because a wild animal vector has transmitted a disease (i.e. bovine TB), the response from some quarters becomes more polarised. (On both sides - if the vector was something less cutesy and photogenic than a badger (a cockroach, say) the public reaction to a proposed cull would be much less extreme).

Debate!

Attila

Stujan · Joined: 05 Jul 2008 Posts: 465 Location: East Sussex

I might be right, then again might be wrong in thinking that Wales was going ahead with a cull . I am going to be very interested in the results and recommendations after that action has taken place !

Chris Kurzfeld · Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 1712 Location: Carmarthenshire

I think it's on hold at the moment Stujan. We had a badgers sett at the bottom of the paddock when we first moved here - they have moved on, probably because of the 7 dogs. I know they do damaged but I don't buy the TB debate - scientists agree that it was cattle that gave some badgers TB in the first place and now they want to get rid of them all - a bit like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted me thinks!!!!

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7424 Location: isle of lewis

i'm not sure that that is true
the incidence of btb is increasing in cats at quite a rate and llamas
with premovement testing which now has to take place there should not be a single case of btb unless it was carried by something else (16 llamas have it this year 16 cats , a dog, a couple of goats ),the testing that is going to happen in wales would be along side testing of every single cow in wales quite a task,i'd hate to see every badger culled ,but if tb is found on a farm the badgers/cats ect should also be tested that way hopefully it could be controlled Crying or Very sad