Brian May | Save The Badgers | Oxford Union

Brian May talks about the UK government badger cull and why it must be abandoned.
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Brian May begins by saying that his talk was supposed to be a debate on the culling of Badgers in the UK. The opposition, lead by Owen Paterson (A Conservative MP who is Secretary of State for Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs), didn't show up highlighting that his argument for the killing of Badgers does not hold any ground.

Bovine TB is a disease typically endemic to cows and can spread to any lactating mammal. The strain of the virus that has been passed on to Badgers cannot easily infect humans, it's typically a respiratory disease however in it's advanced form it can cause legions and is a terrible way for the animal to die.

The witch-hunt against badgers started when a single badger was found in 1971 to be ill and dying and from that people blamed all the badgers for the spread of TB among cattle. This is where the stigma placed on Badgers was founded; however the badger that was found was never tested for the disease so there is no evidence for all this blame.

The government plans to kills thousands of badgers this summer in West Gloucestershire, Somerset and part of Dorset.

There is a skin test on cows to show TB and in one case the skin test has failed 5 times over and the disease was only discovered in the cow at the abattoir. Over 40% of Bovine TB cases are discovered in the abattoir.
It is argued that the badger cull will have an adverse affect on the spread of TB. The issue of vaccinating cows has not been addressed. A scientific study was undertaken on badgers that were seemingly killed by the roadside and 80% of them were discovered to have died somewhere else and conveniently placed there.

Brian concludes that the vaccination of cattle is the only way to go. He uses the ban on fox hunting as an example of how the media subliminally sways public opinion in their favour but suddenly coming out with stories of foxes biting and attacking people.
Filmed on Wednesday 27th March 2013

ABOUT BRIAN MAY:
Brian May, musician and astrophysicist, is most widely known as the guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer of the rock band Queen.
He was appointed a CBE in 2005 for services to the music industry and for his charity work. He earned a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College in 2007 and is currently serving as the 4th Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University. Planet Rock voted May the 7th greatest guitarist of all time, and he was ranked at No. 26 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2012, May was ranked the 2nd greatest guitarist of all time by a Guitar World magazine readers poll.

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