# 4873
Cinema lovers will no doubt recognize the above title as an homage to perhaps the 2nd most misquoted line from the movies (the first being Casablanca’s `Play it Again, Sam’).
In this case, it comes from another Bogart movie – The Treasure of the Sierra Madre – and the actual quote delivered by Alfonso Bedoya was:
- Dobbs: "If you're the police where are your badges?"
- Gold Hat: "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!"
Over the years Gold Hat’s lines have morphed in popular culture and memory – aided and abetted by Mel Brook’s Blazing Saddles – into `Badges? We don’t need no Stinkin’ Badges!’.
And of course, a thousand (now a thousand and one) parodies thereof.
Which brings us (at long last) to an infectious disease story out of the UK, where the power to cull badgers – which are viewed by many farmers as a serious threat to their cattle – is about to be granted.
Badgers can carry Mycobacterium bovis which is the cause of tuberculosis in cattle (known as bovine TB).
M. bovis is also capable of infecting humans (mainly through unpasteurized milk), although famers in contact with infected cattle are at risk as well.
In fact, of the three type of Tuberculosis bacteria (Mycobacterium bovis, M. avium, and M. tuberculosis), M. Bovis has the largest host range – being capable of infecting just about all warm-blooded vertebrates.
In countries where pasteurization of dairy products is common, human infection by M. bovis is relatively rare, but not unheard of.
The UK’s HPA describes the risks thusly:
TB caused by M. bovis is diagnosed in a small number of people in the UK every year. The majority of cases are in people over 65 years old (and who drank infected unpasteurised milk in the past) or in those of any age who picked up the infection abroad.The number of human TB cases due to M. bovis infection is closely monitored by the Health Protection Agency in England and Wales, and Health Protection Scotland in Scotland.
Overall, human TB caused by M. bovis accounts for less than 1% of the total TB cases in the UK. However, those working closely with livestock and/or regularly drinking unpasteurised (raw) milk have a higher risk of exposure.
Over the last decade, it has been estimated that 150,000 head of cattle in the UK have been slaughtered because of M. Bovis infection – with compensation payments to farmers in 2009 running nearly £90mn.
Many farmers see badgers as the primary source of bovine TB, and blame them for reintroducing the disease into their herds each year.
Conservation and animal rights groups strongly disagree, and argue that the badger is the victim here.
They maintain that cow-to-cow transmission is the primary route of infection, and that badgers usually get the disease from cattle – not the other way around.
Both sides have their own experts, supportive studies, and a constituency behind them. The debate has been vigorous, lengthy, and often heated as the following media reports illustrate:
13 July 2010
Welsh badger cull decision does not refute science
May 20, 2010
Minister blocks cull of badgers in bovine TB hotspots
14 Nov 2008
Cattle, not badgers, are reservoir of bovine TB
Bovine TB is not a threat to the health of Britain's badgers but farming unions are, says Trevor Lawson from the Badger Trust.
Animal rights groups hang their hat on a decade-long study by the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB, which concluded that culling could not “meaningfully contribute” to control of the disease.
Other researchers disagree.
The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has come down in favor of targeted, humane culling of badgers as part of an overall bTB (Bovine TB) eradication plan.
Some excerpts from their policy statement.
The British Veterinary Association (BVA) believes that the eradication of bTB from cattle and wildlife populations must be the ultimate aim, with initial steps being taken immediately to control the spread of infection.
- The current Government Strategy for bTB control is inadequate.
- Control measures in cattle must be accompanied by simultaneous and coordinated measures in badgers and other wildlife and susceptible farmed species including deer and camelids for the success of any eradication programme.
- Failure to tackle wildlife sources of infection has prolonged the presence of the disease in all affected species populations.
- Targeted and managed badger culling is necessary in carefully selected areas where badgers are regarded as a significant contributor to the persistent presence of bTB.
Which brings us to the decision announced in today’s story, which will no doubt provoke the ire of a number of environmentalist and animal rights groups.
A hat tip to Dutchy on FluTrackers for this link.
Farmers to be handed powers to cull badgers
Farmers will be handed powers to slaughter badgers as part of a widespread cull in England aimed at halting the spread of tuberculosis in cattle herds.
While the decision to proceed with limited culls appears to have been reached, legal challenges and the weight of public opinion may still prove to be impediments to the plan.
Not being an expert in the ecology of M. bovis, or the efficacy of badger culling, I’m hard pressed to take sides here. With conflicting studies and scientific assessments, any definitive answers as to what control methods actually work are unlikely in the near-term.
But for opposing viewpoints you may wish to visit:
The British Veterinary Association has scores of documents on the problems of bovine TB in the UK, which may be accessed at this link.
Badger Trust, which has opposed culling, presents its case on their website.
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