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Already distraught at the notion of the badgers being culled en masse because of their perceived role in spreading bovine tuberculosis, the nation is now gagging at the suggestion, from celebrity chef Clarissa Dickson Wright that the innocent, stripy-faced animals should be cooked. And eaten. (Small surprise: the former "Fat Lady" has a new book to promote.)
Since 1992 it has been illegal to kill badgers in Britain – so the only way to get hold of one to eat has been by picking one off the road. But if the government's full culling programme goes ahead thousands of badgers could be shot this winter. Meat is getting more expensive after the global grain prices spike of this summer. Wild meats like venison, rabbit, pigeon and, yes, badger and hedgehog, are looking rather tastier.
Arthur Boyt thinks Dickson Wright is talking good gastronomic sense. He has been eating badger most of his life: he stewed up a piece of back meat with the animal's genitals for supper last Thursday. "Dog, especially labrador, is my favourite, but badger makes a pretty good meal." Boyt, a 73-year-old former civil servant and scientist, does not kill animals. All his free meat comes from the roads around his home on Bodmin Moor.
"I'm against the cull," he said, "but it would be ridiculous not to use the dead badgers. I've eaten badger for 55 years and I certainly haven't got TB. As with all meat you just make sure you cook it long and hot enough to kill any bugs."
A badger will make a meal for two, says Boyt, though his wife Sue is a vegetarian. So he often shares the animal with his son and daughter-in-law, who comes from Papua and is used to eating "maggots and grubs." Boyt's favourite part of the animal is the head: "There's five tastes and textures in there, including the tongue, the eyeballs, the muscle … The salivary glands taste quite different. And of course, the brain. You get that by putting a teaspoon in the hole in the back and rooting around."
To a modern cook, eating badger might sound like a terrible idea, but people who grew up in rural Britain during the second world war remember eating it and there are historic recipes for it from across Europe.
Badger doesn't appear in any of the great 18th century British cookbooks, and though Dickson Wright says the animal has always been a staple, it seems to have been a food only for the poor. But in France blaireau au sang (badger with blood) is a well-remembered recipe. In Italy and the Balkans rural people have a culture of badger-eating. In Russia badgers have been a food and a folk-medicine, their fat a cure for coughs. The Prussians even bred a dog – the dachshund (badger hound) – to hound the poor beasts out of their setts.
There are tales of West Country pubs serving badger ham as a bar snack (although these might be classed with the stories of fermenting the scrumpy with a dead rat). Boyt's usual recipe is simpler. He skins and joints the badger, saves the offal and then makes a traditional casserole, adding whatever vegetables are in the house. No wine, though he may drink a glass with the meal. "I'm a down-to-earth chap – I like simplicity. It's nice meat – why titillate it?"
European recipes for badger often ask you to lay it in running water for several days to get rid of a rank flavour. But Boyt says that's only necessary for fox. And badger, though it doesn't need to be hung, can be eaten when it's "quite green" - that's assuming the diners aren't similarly tinged.
dunno about this really. No love of the stripey gits -- mainly due to an odd incident in my youth involving a night out, a cantankerous old badger and some bicycles, but that's a whole other story ... -- but I'm not sure I'd want to eat them either.
... yet another triumph for the image of british food too eh ?
The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
That said, who wants to eat a gassed badger infected with TB? I can't see it appearing in Waitrose soon.
I disagree with the cull, though. I expect we shall find in five years that it has done nothing except transfer public funds into the pockets of badger gassing companies.
Still, someone has to find employment for all the cowboy clampers who will be out of work come Monday.
The Badger is protected under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, which includes protection of the sett, and Schedule 6 of the Wildlife Countryside Act 1981. Appendix III, Article 7 of the Bern Convention states that the British Badger population has high value in international conservation of the species. Some protection of Badgers is also given under the Hunting with Dogs Act 2004.
The protection afforded badgers under law was based mainly on the need to protect them from badger baiting and deliberate harm.
Offences:
The following would constitute an offence under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.
to wilfully kill, injure, take, possess or cruelly ill-treat a badger, or attempt to do so
damaging or destroying a sett
obstructing access to a sett
disturbing a badger when occupying a sett
plus, offences in relation to persecution.
If any activities are undertaken that result in any of the above an offence would be committed under the law. If prosecuted, fines of about £5,000 can be applied or 6 months imprisonment.
Exceptions:
Taking a disabled badger for the purposes of tending it.
Killing a seriously injured or sickly badger as an act of mercy.
Unavoidably killing a badger as an incidental result of a lawful action.
If it can be shown that actions were taken in an emergency in order to prevent serious damage to property.
For a full list of exceptions please see the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.
An offence will not be committed if a licence is obtained from the Countryside Council for Wales in order to carry out any activities prohibited by the Act, so long as the conditions contained in the licence are adhered to.
The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
I still don't quite understand why the government think its a good idea to cull the badgers, I thought some independent researchers/scientists/someone said that Badgers aren't really the cause of TB in cattle, and a mass cull won't help...
But either way, I won't be eating any badgers. But then again i'm Vegetarian anyway
Ouze wrote: Why is it unlawful to kill badgers in the UK?
This sounds like a job for, badger dogs!
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
Q: What is the main scientific evidence for and against culling badgers?
A: The most extensive scientific evidence comes from a £50m study in England on whether culling badgers reduces bovine TB, known as the randomised badger culling trial or the Krebs trial. The data suggests that if certain conditions are met, culling could reduce disease incidence by 16% over nine years, although it could be higher or lower.
But as independent scientists have pointed out, "badger culling has positive and negative effects on bovine TB in cattle and is difficult, costly and controversial" .
The badger culling trial in England found that killing badgers disrupted their social groups, with badgers moving further afield to establish new groups, taking TB with them. This so-called perturbation effect led to an increase in cases of bovine TB outside of the cull zone.
The pilot culls are attempting to use borders such as rivers and motorways to reduce the risk of badgers spreading TB to neighbouring areas, but this approach has not been tested.
Also, the Krebs trial trapped badgers in cages for the cull, while the main method planned for Gloucestershire and Somerset is free shooting. Any deviation from methods used in the original trial will affect the expected impact on bovine TB, say scientists.
The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
I believe the whole protection thing was a action against badger baiting, which isn't a particularly pleasant sport (unless you are into taking a badger out of the wild by gassing it out of it's set, then throwing it into a fighting pit to be ripped apart by dogs, or rip apart the dogs depending on the ferocity of the badger).
As for me, I have made it one of my life goals to, if presented with the opportunity, at least try a sample of as many different species as possible (excluding most shellfish, as I'm not a fan of shellfish), so I would probably try badger if offered it for consumption, that is to say however I wouldn't go out of my way to procure badger meat for dinner, but if I saw a 'game pie' on a menu in a pub with badger in it I would probably go for it.
And that is why you hear people yelling FOR THE EMPEROR rather than FOR LOGICAL AND QUANTIFIABLE BASED DECISIONS FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE MAJORITY!
Phototoxin wrote:Kids go in , they waste tonnes of money on marnus calgar and his landraider, the slaneshi-like GW revel at this lust and short term profit margin pleasure. Meanwhile father time and cunning lord tzeentch whisper 'our games are better AND cheaper' and then players leave for mantic and warmahordes.
daveNYC wrote:The Craftworld guys, who are such stick-in-the-muds that they manage to make the Ultramarines look like an Ibiza nightclub that spiked its Red Bull with LSD.
The centre of a massive brood chamber, heaving and pulsating.
One of the guys in the sauce says he enjoys labrador.
To hell with him. No, that's far too merciful. To Korea with him.
Squigsquasher, resident ban magnet, White Knight, and general fethwit.
buddha wrote: I've decided that these GW is dead/dying threads that pop up every-week must be followers and cultists of nurgle perpetuating the need for decay. I therefore declare that that such threads are heresy and subject to exterminatus. So says the Inquisition!
To hell with him. No, that's far too merciful. To Korea with him.
More dog for him then. I don't understand the reticence that some (most) people have to eating 'cuddly' animals. I really want to try horse, it is supposed to be very nice.
Badgers are reputedly riddled with parasites so on that basis I think I will give them a miss.
This cull is a complete waste of time, it would only have an effect if you basically wipe out the majority of the UK's badger population as culled areas will be swiftly repopulated and the reduction of TB rates is quite small anyway. I get the impression that there has been some heavy pressure applied to the Conservatives by the farming lobby, I can't see any other explanation as to why this cull is going ahead.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2012/09/26 17:04:09
RegalPhantom wrote: If your fluff doesn't fit, change your fluff until it does
The prefect example of someone missing the point.
Do not underestimate the Squats. They survived for millenia cut off from the Imperium and assailed on all sides. Their determination and resilience is an example to us all.
-Leman Russ, Meditations on Imperial Command book XVI (AKA the RT era White Dwarf Commpendium).
Its just a shame that they couldn't fight off Andy Chambers.
Warzone Plog
They've been culling the badgers in Ireland far more indiscriminately than that for years now, it has had no measurable effect on the TB rates in cattle in ireland. Culling does not work from an epidemiology standpoint, based on the data we have.
I'm generally against culling any animal. There are countless case studies that point to it being something that causes more damage than it solves.
On the eating front, carnivores are generally a bad idea to eat because they tend to accumulate more environmental toxins and they also tend to be infected with more parasites and so on.
It's frustrating to see policies like this take hold, but it's no more ridiculous than the cattle culls during the foot and mouth crisis a decade or so ago.
Wait let me try this. Shut up you ing badger gasser! yep that works just fine, just fine.
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
Well, it seems that a better solution would be to open up badger hunting. Its more controlled then periodic culls and can generate quite alot of revenue(sale of licenses as well and the meat and pelts)
Hunting is a positive thing for animal populations when properly controlled.
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
Hunting is a positive thing for animal populations when properly controlled.
Only for prey species. Predator populations are naturally held in check by prey populations while if predators are removed prey species populations have a habit of exploding and then crashing. Sporadic hunting of badgers would be of no use to anyone as they are omnivores and it won't reduce the spread of bovine TB.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/09/27 00:00:50
RegalPhantom wrote: If your fluff doesn't fit, change your fluff until it does
The prefect example of someone missing the point.
Do not underestimate the Squats. They survived for millenia cut off from the Imperium and assailed on all sides. Their determination and resilience is an example to us all.
-Leman Russ, Meditations on Imperial Command book XVI (AKA the RT era White Dwarf Commpendium).
Its just a shame that they couldn't fight off Andy Chambers.
Warzone Plog
Hunting is a positive thing for animal populations when properly controlled.
Only for prey species. Predator populations are naturally held in check by prey populations while if predators are removed prey species populations have a habit of exploding and then crashing. Sporadic hunting of badgers would be of no use to anyone.
True, there are natural fluctuations, but they can have disasterous consequences. A prey explosion creates a predator explosion which causes a prey shortage which causes a predator shortage which causes a prey explosion...
However, these fluctuations can result in the prey species being hunted to extinction by the predators if the case becomes too extreme. The over abundance of the predator results in the extinction of the prey species.
Both predator and prey species can be hunted by man. The result is that the predator/prey fluctuations are stabilized and neither species will go extinct(assuming proper hunting levels)
Improper hunting will result in extinctions, but proper hunting will prevent extinctions.
The Department of Fish and Game(or equivilent) monitors the population of all species. lets use Wolves and Elk and our example species.
Elk are experiencing a population boom due to years of having very few predators, human and wolf. The Wolves have a very small population due to their recent reintroduction into this area.
So, to combat this unstable population, the Department increases the number of Elk licenses it issues. it also decreases the amount of wolf licenses it issues to hunters(to zero)
This causes the Elk population to shrink and the wolf population to increase.
After a period of time the Elk population has dropped to acceptable levels and the Wolf population has increased to acceptable levels.
At this point the department sees what the increase in population is for each species on a yearly basis. They then determine how much below the actual growth rate is the rate of replenishment(the rate at which the population will exibit no change)
The difference between the 2 rates is the amount of licenses they issue to hunters for each species.
Assuming that all licenses are taken and used, the population of both species will remain constant.
This is far superior to the natural cycle which can result in the extinction of a species in the event of abnormal circumstances(a drought results in an Elk die off)
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
ing badger gasser! yep that works just fine, just fine. 
