Do people think that Shambo the T.B infected bull should be destroyed or not? icolation?
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Answers:
Shambo - I think before people answer a question they should do some research. Shambo has been examined by a top vetinarian who says he does not have any signs of TB.
He is not a danger to anyone because he has been kept in isolation since the supposed 'test' - which is not accurate by any means of the imagination.
Welsh Assembly Minister Jane Davidson has posted a declaration that this test is 99% accurate - which is totally inaccurate.
http://new.wales.gov.uk/depc/1382175/138...
2. Why can’t you allow the Community to use antibiotics to treat Shambo?
There is no accepted, effective treatment for TB in cattle. There are no antibiotics licensed in the UK for treating bovine TB in cattle. If Shambo was given antibiotics experimentally, we would have no way of testing whether they had cured him. So if Shambo was given antibiotics, he would still have to be kept in isolation for the rest of his life, to minimise the risk of him passing the disease to other animals and people – and as explained above, the current isolation facilities at the Community are not satisfactory for the long-term.
My Response: If there was no way to test if a cure was positive, how can you uphold that the original test was positive? If Shambo was given experimental treatment which cured him, then surely a repeat of the original test would now prove negative?
Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Written Evidence -
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa...
5.1 Studies have shown it is difficult for an infected animal to transmit to others. In one trial when groups of two reactor steers were confined with one attested steer in 10 loose houses for 12 months, only four of the challenged animals were found at slaughter to be infected. The other six had presumably acquired immunity. Yet Defra deny that cattle can develop TB immunity. The Independent Scientific Group (ISG) did indeed raise the question, commenting: "it is unclear whether or not cattle can resolve infection with M.bovis, and if so, whether such animals are detected by TB testing procedures." The answer may lie in the high level of false positives diagnosed by the TB skin test. Some 8-12% of UK reactors are shown at post mortem not to have been infected.
In the Anglesey outbreak September 2003, 20 reactors were diagnosed in a herd of 160 sucklers, of which five heifers and a bullock were confirmed, and 13 sucklers and a bull were false positives, unnecessarily slaughtered. The much-touted interferon- (IFN) test is at present unacceptable because it diagnoses even more false positives than the skin test
5.2 False positives are mainly ascribed to environmental mycobacteria. Huge numbers of these inhabit soil, water, herbage and the digestive tracts of herbivores, and occasionally a species has been found to sensitise cattle to tuberculin. But I suggest that false positives are identifying animals that have mounted a cell mediated immune response, conferring an immunity which neither the skin test nor the IFN test can distinguish from infection.
2. Does Shambo have TB?
Shambo has had a positive reaction to the skin test for bovine TB. This is the internationally recognised test for assessing whether cattle have come into contact with the cattle TB bacterium (Mycobacterium bovis). It is 99.9% accurate i.e. only one in one thousand is inaccurately identified as a reactor. The test is recognised by the European Union and the World Organisation for Animal Health.
My Response: In the Anglesey outbreak September 2003, 20 reactors were diagnosed in a herd of 160 sucklers, of which five heifers and a bullock were confirmed, and 13 sucklers and a bull were false positives, unnecessarily slaughtered. 99.9% accurate? Where do you get your figures from?
The slaughter policy of the Welsh Assembly Government is shameful. They feel it right to spend millions of pounds,(£65.8m (incl VAT) of tax-payers money on a new Assembly building but can't find funding for more intensive research into Bovine TB. For our friends in America, that's $132 Million.
They deem it 'too costly' to pursue health matters but instead want to 'show off' to the world, how grand their Government is, while the people of Wales live in depression.
Assess this situation for yourself: http://www.skandavale.org/shambo.htm...
shoot it dead
Unfortunately, as horrible as it s.unds, yes I do. We cannot take the risk of this being transferred to anyone/thing. It's a shame but we simply cannot risk it.
they could treat it with anti-biotics..but wont!
edit: sorry..i heard that on the radio..true apparently.
NNNNNNnnnnnnooooooooooooooooo.
I dont Understand it.. They wont put up Christmas decorations in case it upsets "Non Christians", But they'll kill one of their Sacred Animals and give Salman Rushdie an Honour.
Let it Live. Its in Isolation anyway !
Kill him!
The law is the law and if farmers have to kill their infected cattle I don't see why a bunch of religious people should not have to follow the same rules.
He has to be destroyed. to keep him indoors in isolation is a very poor way to treat him, TB causes a lingering painful death.
It is simply not right to risk the spread of TB with one animal.
One law for all. Though I think it would be different if they were Muslim or Sikh. 7000 cattle are killed every day, so one is no big deal.
This animal has a nerve disease that may cause it distress and suffering, yet these people wish to prevent humane euphenasia because THEY consider the animal to be sacred in the religion they follow.
How selfish!
Such a shame but if the infected animal is highly contageous and likely to spread a life threatening disease to rest of herd and humans I'm afraid a visit to animal heaven is on the cards.
I think it will be kinder to the animal too, as I believe TB to be an awful disease causing an awful death.
Best for all if he be given a permanent sleeping injection.
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