Prices are high but Ukraine has it tougher
Most of us, farmers in particular, enjoy living alongside our native wildlife, flora and fauna. That is until they become overpopulated or introduce disease which threaten domestic livestock, or generally endanger wildlife almost to extinction.
We are happy to rub alongside foxes and badgers, the main dominating mammals at the top of the food chain. However, when they become too numerous, over dominant and upset the natural balance in the countryside, it is time to take a stand.
Neither has a natural predator; it is centuries since wolves roamed the British countryside. The only way to manage their numbers is to cull when and where appropriate.
Prior to badgers being declared a ‘protected’ species, farmers would manage them, keeping a healthy population. Then TB was manageable, not rampant as it is in certain parts of the country today. Now thousands of healthy cattle which test positive – the disease spread mainly by badgers – are slaughtered each year.
What if those of us testing positive for Covid were euthanised? Would that be acceptable? No, of course not.
Today it is rare to see hedgehogs and many other small native mammals, they have mostly been obliterated by badgers.
Foxes are responsible for reduced numbers of groundnesting birds and native ducks. There are attacks on domestic chickens, family pets including cats and of course vulnerable newborn lambs.
In the past numbers were kept sensible by local hunts which knew their countryside and understood how and where to thin out the aggressive, more nuisance foxes. The old and infirm cause the most damage as they go for the soft option, including less able domestic pets and livestock.
There is a natural law of the countryside which when interrupted by the bans imposed by people professing to care for wildlife but have little understanding of nature and the balance in the countryside, the aggressors become dominant and disrupt the peaceful co-existence of their neighbours.
This is what we are watching with horror in Ukraine, as the deranged President Putin sends Russian troops across the border into this peaceful, independent sovereign nation.
He clearly considers he is at the top of the proverbial
‘food chain’, believing he has no natural predator. He thinks he is untouchable, and somehow has a right to move Russia’s borders, taking whatever he chooses.
He has however met his match in the brave people of Ukraine who are fighting back, defending their country and will, some having done so already, fight to the death. I suspect it will not be long before ordinary Russians cross the borders into Ukraine to support their neighbours in defiance of the evil Putin.
Once they know the truth, instead of the lies they have been fed, it is certain they will turn on this man who is waging war in their name, against innocent people including women and children. He is the architect of his own eventual demise.
Independent Ukraine, despite its faults, has become westernised and successful. It is the breadbasket of Europe, producing from its rich black soil 12 per cent of global wheat exports, 16 per cent of corn and 18 per cent of barley. Ukraine today competes with Russia. It is more integrated and acceptable to western governments, and Putin doesn’t like it. So, like all despots, because they can neither compete or control, they do their utmost to destroy and conquer. Mugabe would have made Putin a fine bed fellow.
Wheat prices are flying high but so too are sprays and fertilizers, if you can get them. We can be sure that the price of bread and daily necessities will rise which will be tough for many. However, compared to what families in Ukraine are facing and will be for months to come, we have very little to complain about.