{"id":2425,"date":"2012-10-23T22:10:15","date_gmt":"2012-10-23T21:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/archives\/2425"},"modified":"2013-11-03T01:12:08","modified_gmt":"2013-11-03T01:12:08","slug":"badger-cull-postponed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/badger-cull-postponed\/","title":{"rendered":"Badger Cull postponed"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

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There was some good news today. The proposed cull of badgers in two areas of the UK has been postponed until next summer. This comes on the back of over 160,000 signatures calling for a debate in Parliament (which takes place on Thursday) and increasing evidence that the cull was badly misjudged in terms of cost. The aim had been to cull 70% of badgers in the designated areas in an attempt to reduce the spread of bovine TB. At best this would reduce bTB by 16-17% in cattle; but if anything less than 70% of the badger population was culled then the likely effect would be to increase transmission of bTB through badger displacement as family groups were dispersed by the culling process.
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With shooting about to begin any day now, the postponement is great news but it doesn't mean the threat is over. The government still claims that it intends to pursue the cull policy next year despite massive opposition including a host of leading scientists<\/a>. But for now the threat is on hold, and the badgers can enjoy a temporary respite.
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For more information go to Team Badger<\/a> and Brian May's Save Me<\/a> sites.
\"Nature<\/a><\/span>
\"site<\/a>
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon EOS 7D.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[994],"tags":[160,913],"class_list":["post-2425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-badger-wildlife","tag-badger-2","tag-cull","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t