The Irish Farmers Association is shamefully pushing for the killing of badgers in areas where public Greenways are being developed.

Agriland is reporting this week that, in a submission to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the IFA “raised specific concerns over the impact that developing Greenway projects may have on the health of farm animals”.

“The key concern in this area is the disturbance of badgers and deer and the TB impact in neighbouring farms this is shown to have,” the IFA said in its submission, claiming that “the disturbance and stress increases their susceptibility to disease and, in turn, increases the risk to our farm animals who are exposed to increased contact with this wildlife when disturbed.”

The IFA is quoted as saying: “Intensive capturing should be planned prior to works commencing. Where a licence does not exist, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine must develop a mechanism that provides a short-term capture licence for the preventative removal of wildlife.”

Read the full Agriland article at
https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/greenway-developments-pose-increased-threat-to-health-of-farm-animals-ifa/

The IFA wants badgers killed despite research showing that badgers actually avoid cattle.

The Wicklow N11 Badger Study carried out by the Department of Agriculture and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (along with a team from Trinity College Dublin) found that badgers normally keep away from fields of cattle and yards with cattle in them.

Speaking on RTE’s "Living the Wildlife" programme in 2015, Department of Agriculture Veterinary Inspector Teresa Mac White outlined that the study involved 40 badgers who sent back 31,000 locations via attached GPS-enabled collars.

"What showed up was consistently, all the badgers avoided going in to farm yards," she stated. "If they did go in to a yard, it was more likely to be a horse yard or a disused yard. They all consistently avoided going in to yards on cattle farms. That was a most unexpected finding."

Revealing another finding, she went on to say: "Badgers will actively avoid going in to fields where there are cattle. So when they go out on their nightly wanderings and they find there are cattle in a field, they'll divert off somewhere else. And even if that's one of their preferred foraging areas, they'll still decide to avoid it."

The Irish Wildlife Trust, which “opposes the use of badger culling as a technique for Bovine Tuberculosis management in Ireland” says “culling badgers is clearly not working.” It has described the Department of Agriculture’s so-called TB eradication programme as a “costly failure” with a “devastating impact” on badger populations”.

“The Irish Wildlife Trust believes that improvements in testing and the development of a cattle vaccine are the best ways to eliminate this disease just as we did in the human population,” the IWT states on its website. “Vaccination is also the best way to deal with the disease in badgers. A badger vaccine based on the human BCG has been developed in New Zealand and has been shown to reduce TB in 74-76% of vaccinated badgers. Recent vaccination trials have led to some promising results which indicate that if proper vaccination measures are put in place and controlled, TB can be wiped from badger populations. In the interim we would call on the Irish authorities to stop wasting taxpayer’s money on a system which is unscientific and completely unsustainable in the long run.”

Last year, the Irish Times reported that “badgers are to be vaccinated as part of the State’s effort to eradicate tuberculosis in cattle”. The then Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed stated at the time that the decision was backed up by “years of scientific research” funded by his department.

However, badgers are continuing to be cruelly snared and killed. An estimated 120,000 have been killed by the Department of Agriculture since 1984. The assault on this supposedly protected species takes place under licence from the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Bernie Barrett of Badger Watch Ireland describes how badgers suffer under the Department’s scheme: "The method of capture is a barbaric wire snare which holds the helpless badger in excruciating pain until it is dispatched by gunshot. That’s provided the animal has not agonisingly strangled itself beforehand. When nursing female badgers are snared and shot, their cubs are left to starve to death underground."

ACTION ALERT

Sign our petition
Ireland: Stop badger snaring cruelty NOW
https://www.change.org/p/ireland-stop-your-badger-snaring-cruelty-now

Urge the Ministers at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to reject the IFA’s request to capture and kill badgers ahead of Greenway developments.

Eamon Ryan
Minister for Climate Action, Communication Networks and Transport
Tel: 01 618 3894
Email: eamon.ryan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EamonRyanGP/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EamonRyan

Catherine Martin TD
Minister for Media, Tourism, Art, Culture, Sports and the Gaeltacht
Tel: (01) 618 3018
Email: catherine.martin@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Catherinemartingreen/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/cathmartingreen

Hildegarde Naughton TD
Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport
hildegarde.naughton@oireachtas.ie

Appeal to Taoiseach Micheal Martin to show compassion and permanently end all badger snaring and killing.

Micheál Martin, Taoiseach
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1–618 4350 or +353 (0)21-432 0088
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD