Anti-badger cull rally held in London as pilot culls begin

Several hundred people have held a rally in London as licences to cull badgers came into force in two areas.

Brian May: "We don't believe it will work, we don't believe it's humane"

Up to 5,094 free-running badgers in west Somerset and west Gloucestershire can now be shot by trained marksmen.

Ex-Queen guitarist Brian May, who led the rally, said the cull would not make "life any easier for farmers", adding: "We don't believe it will work."

Farmers believe badgers spread TB and have led to rising numbers of infected cattle being slaughtered every year.

'Smash the BNP'

Groups of farmers in the two pilot zones have been given licences to conduct culls using trained marksmen to shoot the distinctive black and white creatures.

The cull can take place over any continuous six-week period until 1 December.

Campaigner Paul Hornsby said: "Yes I live in a city, but I have a family of foxes living in my back garden and I believe it's their world too.

"I don't believe we have any right to kill these animals, badgers or foxes."

A minor scuffle broke out as the rally was not allowed to proceed to Parliament Square or Westminster Abbey because a BNP march was taking place.

A group of anti-cull protesters set fire to a pile of newspapers, causing smoke to drift over the grounds of the Houses of Parliament.Eyewitness Ryan Barnes said anti-BNP and anti-cull protesters later began chanting "Save the badgers, smash the BNP" together.

'Terrible price'

During the rally, May also renewed calls for ministers to change their mind about the cull. He said: "The great bit of new information is it has now been demonstrated that the cull cannot make economic sense."It will lose the taxpayer money rather than save it."That was really the last shred of reason that you could give for this cull going ahead."It is a very good time for Mr Cameron to reconsider and withdraw from this monstrous cull, in the public interest."He also delivered a near-250,000 signature petition to Downing Street calling for the cull to be scrapped.The government argues that the cull is necessary as part of efforts to stop spiralling numbers of outbreaks of TB in dairy and beef herds, which led to 28,000 cattle being slaughtered in England last year.Without action, infection and costs will continue to soar, it is claimed.Continue reading the main story

Labour, which is against the cull, has tabled an opposition debate in the Commons for Wednesday.'Humane culls'

A YouGov poll released on Friday showed 34% of people oppose a cull, 29% support the measure, while the remainder did not know or had no strong feelings.

A long-term study has shown that culling 70% of badgers in a particular area can reduce the disease in herds by 16%.

In west Gloucestershire the aim is to shoot up to 2,932 badgers in the first year of the cull.

In west Somerset, the target is 2,162 badgers, bringing the total number to 5,094 in this period.

This will equate to about 70 badgers being killed every night in west Gloucestershire and about 50 a night in west Somerset.

A third area, Dorset, is being considered for a cull, but a licence is not yet in place.

Farming minister David Heath said: "What we're trying to see in these pilot culls is whether it can be done humanely, safely and efficiently."

He said the culls were part of a wider strategy to improve bio-security, and that vaccines - suggested by opponents of the cull - were not ready yet and could not be used effectively.

He said other countries such as Ireland and New Zealand had adopted "similar policies" successfully to deal with the issue.

From BBC News

Badger cull trial starts tomorrow, Saturday 1st June in parts of England

Some people think the cull is nohing else but a shot in the dark.

Actually, badgers are very popular in the UK as they are spread all over the country and may even socialize with humans who love the idea of having  their backyards visited by these fellows.

Look at them! Aren't they cute?

A trial cull of badgers in two areas of England can start tomorrow, Saturday 1st June

About 5,000 badgers will be shot in West Gloucestershire and West Somerset over a six-week period.

The government says the action is needed to help tackle bovine tuberculosis (TB), a disease that affects cattle.

But campaigners against the cull say it will have no impact on bovine TB, and could lead to local populations of badgers being wiped out.

The trial will be repeated every year for four years, and will be assessed to see if enough badgers were removed and how humanely it was done.

Scientific evidence has shown that bovine TB can be spread from badgers to cattle.

But it's unclear how much blame lies with badgers, because it can also be spread between cattle.

Arguments in favour

The government has said that experience from other countries shows the best way to control bovine TB is by tackling it in surrounding wildlife.

The National Farmers' Union said that 38,000 cattle had to be killed in 2012 because of bovine TB, resulting in devastating effects for farmers' businesses and families.

Arguments against

Anti-cull campaigners, such as the RSPCA, think that vaccinating badgers and cattle against TB is a better solution.

They are also against the plan for trained marksmen to freely shoot the badgers, saying it risks wounding them and not killing them humanely.

But the government says that currently, a vaccine would need to be injected, presenting "practical difficulties... which means that it is not a realistic option for dealing with the problem in the short term".

From CBBC News

Charley the sea turtle rescued after swallowing plastic

Unfortunately this is a very commom problem for sea turtles and once more it happened because men are careless in what the environment is concerned and drop plastic items into the sea. Sea turtles these items are food and eat them

Charley the sea turtle, who was found injured by a fisherman in Florida, has been saved.

The young loggerhead sea turtle, who is only a one-year-old, had swallowed plastic rubbish which had blocked her digestive system.

Sea creatures, like Charley, can of often confuse plastic for food which can be really dangerous for them.

The turtle was treated at a rescue centre and has now been safely returned to the sea.

From CBBC News

This young turtle was really lucky! How many of them die because there's no one is around to help?

Scottish wildcat could be extinct 'within two years'

A scientist who has developed a genetic test to identify pure Scottish wildcats has warned that the species could be extinct within two years.

What a shame!

Dr Paul O'Donoghue said cross breeding with feral and hybrid cats made extinction a certainty unless "urgent" conservation activity took place.

The University of Chester biologist said pure wildcats should be trapped.

He also suggested that private individuals could be keeping the "very best" wildcats as pets.

The senior lecturer in biology asked for these people to come forward and help with the conservation effort.

In remote and rural parts of the Highlands it is known for people to take wildcats that visit their properties into their care.

Dr O'Donoghue and his team have developed a test that can look at a small blood sample and scan all of the 63,000 genes that make up any individual cat.

The test then compares the genes against a genetic model of a pure wildcat, providing "definitive statistics on the level of hybridisation present in the tested individual.

One of the major challenges for the project was finding reference samples of pure-bred Scottish wildcats.

In collaboration with Dr Andrew Kitchener, curator at National Museums otland, Dr O'Donoghue searched through hundreds of museum specimens in the Natural History Museums in Edinburgh and London, to find cats that showed no signs of hybridisation.

Dr O'Donoghue said: "In contrast to previous wildcat genetic work, only these pure wildcat samples were used for the reference samples.

"They spanned the past 140 years and are the very best wildcat specimens in existence."

But he added: "Our research shows that the plight of the wildcat is now so serious that unless urgent and targeted conservation activities take place, its extinction due to hybridisation is a certainty.

"Recent estimates suggest that fewer than 100 remain, making it one of the rarest animals in the world.

"Unless decisive action is taken, the wildcat could be declared extinct with the next 12 to 24 months."

Eyewitness reports

The biologist said the animal was now one of the rarest in the world.

He said it was of the "utmost importance" that large scale live trapping took place and cats found to be pure-bred wildcats then be placed in protected areas in the west Highlands.

In September last year, conservationists forecast that Scottish wildcats would be extinct in the wild within months as numbers of pure-bred cats had fallen to about 35 individuals.

A team put together by the Scottish Wildcat Association (SWA) reviewed 2,000 records of camera trap sightings, eyewitness reports and also road kills.

SWA said the analysis suggested there could be 35 wildcats - far fewer than previously thought.

Other research has estimated that there could be less than 400 pure-bred cats.

Earlier in 2012, a report on a project funded by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) estimated that there were 150 breeding pairs left.

Disease and inter-breeding with domestic and feral cats are among the main threats to numbers of pure-bred wildcats.

From BBC