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As soon as an animal becomes extinct, a new bill proposses, it will be classified as “non-native”.

Source: www.monbiot.com

The Shark Trust is demanding limits be set on fished numbers to avoid a population crash

Source: www.walesonline.co.uk

Criminal, cynical and senseless - by catch is an affront to anyone who respects nature and believes that we are working towards sustainable  marine harvests.  Those who catch and dump do not deserve any respect.

David Cameron became the first serving prime minister to make an official visit to the Royal Welsh Show when he stopped by at the showground in Builth Wells on Monday (21 July).

Source: www.fwi.co.uk

Don't blame Liz Truss Secretary of State for Environment.

So that it is clear - It's Cameron's Cull

Q: Mr Cameron, are you happy with the progress on bovine TB in Wales and in England?

A: Obviously, I’m not happy in that we are still losing so many cattle to this awful disease. The vision is there. What we want is healthy cattle and healthy badgers.

What I think you get from this government is an absolute iron determination to take the right decisions – even if they are difficult and unpopular. And that’s why it’s so important that we complete the pilot culls that are taking place and why I’ve been so personally insistent about that.

I think it’s right to say that when we look at how TB has been dealt with across the world, it usually requires a combination of measures – movement restrictions and all the rest of it. But also a limited amount of culling in the wildlife population that carries it [the disease]. The commitment is there.

Am I happy with how things are going? Well, I’m happy that the pilots are going ahead. But obviously, we need to deal with this dreadful disease. To those who oppose this, I would make two points. First, if we don’t succeed, we are set to spend £1bn over the next decade on destroying cattle – and that is a huge amount of money. The second thing is, for those that care about animal rights, is that this is a miserable disease for badgers.

The whole point of this strategy is to have healthy badgers and healthy cattle and that is what we are absolutely committed to do. In terms of Wales, we will have to watch carefully the vaccination trials and study the figures. I was talking to Carwyn Jones about it this morning.

Environment Department urges people to help protect the struggling British bee population

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Writing for The Telegraph, the former environment secretary, Owen Paterson, says he is proud of standing up to the green lobby

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Cynical Owen Paterson MP describes his heroic battles with the Green Blob an entity that fights for the public good.

||By this I mean the mutually supportive network of environmental pressure groups, renewable energy companies and some public officials who keep each other well supplied with lavish funds, scare stories and green tape. This tangled triangle of unelected busybodies claims to have the interests of the planet and the countryside at heart, but it is increasingly clear that it is focusing on the wrong issues and doing real harm while profiting handsomely.||

This blog will provide updates on the work carried out across England to tackle TB in cattle, and...

Source: tacklingbovinetb.tumblr.com

No culled badgers contributed to these results, one Secretary of State was however eliminated.

The most recent bovine TB (bTB) statistics are now online. As of the end of April, more than 4,700 herds across Great Britain were affected by bovine TB, and 11,689 cattle have been slaughtered due to the disease.   The charts and tables in this statistical release illustrate how the trend in bTB incidence has changed since 1996. While it’s important to note that short term changes in these statistics should be considered in the context of long term trends, the monthly incidence rate for April is 3.0%. This is the lowest single monthly incidence rate since 2003 and the third consecutive month in which a decrease in the short-term incidence rate has been observed.

Farming Minister, George Eustice said:

“These latest statistics show that our comprehensive bovine TB eradication strategy is beginning to have a positive effect in bringing this devastating disease under control.

“However bovine TB continues to be a major issue for farmers across England. That is why we are using all the tools we have available to tackle the disease, including a new funding scheme to encourage vaccination of badgers in the ‘edge area’ to help prevent bovine TB taking hold there.”

The most recent bovine TB statistics can be viewed here.

Labour accepts the need to tackle bovine TB in wildlife, but continues to rule out a badger cull, Shadow Farming Minister Huw Irranca-Davies told the CLA Game Fair yesterday.
Sharing a panel with...

Source: www.westernmorningnews.co.uk

Sharing a panel with Farming Minister and Conservative MP for Camborne and Redruth George Eustice, Mr Irranca-Davies said Labour had spent 10 years in Government and £50 million killing badgers and it ‘hadn’t worked.’

A farmer whose closed dairy herd has tested positive for bovine TB has urged the new Defra secretary to reassess the government’s strategy for tackling the disease.

Source: www.fwi.co.uk

The Test / Vaccinate / Remove strategy (TVR) being trialled by DARD in Northern Ireland offers a prospect of a far more specific means of targeting badger management rather than the broadside badger culls in England that are failing to achieve anything other than strife and bad PR for farmers.