"Derek Turner" somewhat@odds wrote in message
...
Duncan Heenan wrote:


I like badgers, and I live in the country.

so do a great number of imported townie bunny-huggers. doesn't make you a
countryman.

And neither does sitting typing second hand opinions in to a computer.
And being a 'countryman', whatever that is, doesn't make you right.


infect our
cattle with TB,


Unproven, as is the counter hypothesis that bovine TB in badgers is
actually caught from cattle. More and better research is needed before a
species is wiped out.

and the FBB sabotage all attempts to prove it one way or the other. I know
what my farming neighbours think.

Ah yes. The bloke in the pub is so more reliable than science. Sorry, I
forgot.


undermine our fields so we break the axles on our machinery


Nonsense. Badgers do not make their sets in open fields. Their usual
habitat is in woodland, and under tree roots. The closes they might get
to a field is the hedgerow.

we have no woodland anywhere near us, only hedgerows and sandy soil. try
telling my farmer next-door-neighbour that his very expensive repair-bill
was not caused by badgers - DEFRA issued him a license to evict them.

There are plenty of things which make holes in the ground, not least ground
water in sandstone underlay. Axles break on farm machinery for a variety of
reasons, including crap operating and manufacturing faults. However it's a
lot easier to blame it on badgers I suppose, especially if it allows him to
dupe DEFRA in to allowing him to gas them. Probably looks better on the
insurance claim too, than some other things it could be.

Duncan Heenan wrote:
"Derek Turner" somewhat@odds wrote in message
...
Duncan Heenan wrote:


I like badgers, and I live in the country.

so do a great number of imported townie bunny-huggers. doesn't
make
you a countryman.

And neither does sitting typing second hand opinions in to a
computer.
And being a 'countryman', whatever that is, doesn't make you right.


infect our
cattle with TB,


Unproven, as is the counter hypothesis that bovine TB in badgers
is
actually caught from cattle. More and better research is needed
before a species is wiped out.

and the FBB sabotage all attempts to prove it one way or the
other.
I know what my farming neighbours think.

Ah yes. The bloke in the pub is so more reliable than science.
Sorry,
I forgot.


undermine our fields so we break the axles on our machinery


Nonsense. Badgers do not make their sets in open fields. Their
usual
habitat is in woodland, and under tree roots. The closes they
might
get to a field is the hedgerow.

we have no woodland anywhere near us, only hedgerows and sandy
soil.
try telling my farmer next-door-neighbour that his very expensive
repair-bill was not caused by badgers - DEFRA issued him a license
to evict them.

There are plenty of things which make holes in the ground, not
least
ground water in sandstone underlay. Axles break on farm machinery
for
a variety of reasons, including crap operating and manufacturing
faults. However it's a lot easier to blame it on badgers I suppose,
especially if it allows him to dupe DEFRA in to allowing him to gas
them. Probably looks better on the insurance claim too, than some
other things it could be.

We express no opinion as to any of m'learned friend's comments above,
m'lud. But the only case we know of badger setts being in the open
was after the clearance of a hillside which had been covered with
gorse and stuff since before anybody could remember. We say not that
the farmer was wrong to clear the space; but we also say not that the
badgers stuck around too long afterwards, either. Further, by y'r
lordship's leave, I would not go so far as to say that any party to
this most complex case has evinced the slightest disposition to
exaggerate, or to any unwillingness to view evidence presented by the
other side in any but the most dispassionate manner.

--
Mike.

My cousin ( with the badgers) lives in the UK near Stoke on Trent; but I
live in OZ - in a country area-and the argument about killing the badger;
thiss etc sounds just like the ones we have about our wildlife ruining our
gardens, eating our chooks etc. I don't like killing anything, so we do our
best to protect protect our animals; this is hard when dealing with large
numbers of sheep etc. v large numbers of foxes! By the way are wolves
still around in the UK or Europe?
Margret.
"Duncan Heenan" wrote in message
...

"Derek Turner" somewhat@odds wrote in message
...
Duncan Heenan wrote:


I like badgers, and I live in the country.

so do a great number of imported townie bunny-huggers. doesn't make you
a
countryman.

And neither does sitting typing second hand opinions in to a computer.
And being a 'countryman', whatever that is, doesn't make you right.


infect our
cattle with TB,


Unproven, as is the counter hypothesis that bovine TB in badgers is
actually caught from cattle. More and better research is needed before
a
species is wiped out.

and the FBB sabotage all attempts to prove it one way or the other. I
know
what my farming neighbours think.

Ah yes. The bloke in the pub is so more reliable than science. Sorry, I
forgot.


undermine our fields so we break the axles on our machinery


Nonsense. Badgers do not make their sets in open fields. Their usual
habitat is in woodland, and under tree roots. The closes they might get
to a field is the hedgerow.

we have no woodland anywhere near us, only hedgerows and sandy soil. try
telling my farmer next-door-neighbour that his very expensive
repair-bill
was not caused by badgers - DEFRA issued him a license to evict them.

There are plenty of things which make holes in the ground, not least
ground
water in sandstone underlay. Axles break on farm machinery for a variety
of
reasons, including crap operating and manufacturing faults. However it's a
lot easier to blame it on badgers I suppose, especially if it allows him
to
dupe DEFRA in to allowing him to gas them. Probably looks better on the
insurance claim too, than some other things it could be.

Janet Baraclough muttered:

Many of the FBB seem to be very badly informed about all sorts of animals.

Indeed and they are not the only ones:

Judith Lea muttered:

Thank you to everyone who replied - it certainly looks like hedgehog
poo. Obviously I have a family of them - how can I move them on as it
would be impossible for my grandson to roll anywhere on the lawn.

How anyone with any clue could mistake a hedgehog's crap for fox (an animal
about 6 times its size)... that is unless it was a hedgehog of Spiny Norman
proportions ))

"Margret" no wrote in message ...
My cousin ( with the badgers) lives in the UK near Stoke on Trent; but I
live in OZ - in a country area-and the argument about killing the badger;
thiss etc sounds just like the ones we have about our wildlife ruining our
gardens, eating our chooks etc. I don't like killing anything, so we do
our
best to protect protect our animals; this is hard when dealing with large
numbers of sheep etc. v large numbers of foxes! By the way are wolves
still around in the UK or Europe?

Yes, there are a few large wild predators like wolves, wolverine and
European lynx at large in parts of Europe, but not in the UK (although there
have been reports of a suspected wolverine on the loose in the North-East
recently, and numerous reports of escaped or released exotic predators
rumoured to be leopards or pumas, for years).

There is a body of people who would like to see the reintroduction of large
predators like wolves, but it doesn't seem very likely this will happen
here. In places where wolves remain, like parts of Scandinavia and Spain,
there is obviously some tension with livestock owners.

Janet Baraclough muttered:

The message
from Magwitch contains these words:

Janet Baraclough muttered:

Many of the FBB seem to be very badly informed about all sorts of animals.

Indeed and they are not the only ones:

How anyone with any clue could mistake a hedgehog's crap for fox (an animal
about 6 times its size)...

Some people have very short attention spans, combined with poor
comprehension skills and very inflexible mental processes. They have
difficulty interpreting what others say, or ordering information to
make sense of it. They struggle to remember correctly, and have such a
poor grasp of logic they can't draw correct conclusions. Then they try
to spread misinformation and their own wrong conclusions to other
people. Unfortunately, their underlying problems are so entrenched that
often they pigheadedly resist every attempt to correct their mistakes,
and become ever more confused.

Janet.


What ever. strategic snip noted