Report stirs up badger culling controversy
Tuesday, 03 Oct 2006 11:41
Badgers have come under fire from farmers for their role in TB
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Badger culling to reduce the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) has been called into question after a report found that cattle infect badgers with the disease as well as the other way round.
The Badger Trust (BT) claims that a new independent study published in the US journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science provides evidence that killing badgers increases bTB in badger populations, probably by disrupting badgers' social order and by increasing the amount of contact that badgers have with cattle.
Badger Trust spokesman Trevor Lawson said: "This research confirms beyond doubt that cattle are the major vectors of bovine TB, readily infecting badgers and other cattle.
"The NFU [National Farmers' Union] and other farming lobby groups should now have the courage to call a halt to illegal badger killing and to immediately withdraw their unsupported demands for state-sponsored badger culls."
Yet the NFU argues that the report illustrates that badger culling is essential if bTB is to be controlled.
Although the report found that cattle could pass bTB on to badgers, NFU deputy president Meurig Raymond said that this risk is being eliminated by cattle controls in place and is smaller than the risk of badgers passing bTB to cattle.
"Cattle do not secrete huge numbers of TB bacilli in the way that badgers do unless they are in the final stages of infection, by which time the condition would have become painfully apparent to the farmer and his vet," he said.
"The results of this survey will be extremely helpful in designing strategies for culling diseased badgers, but they also confirm once again that such strategies will be essential if TB is to be defeated."
Responding to the report, Professor John Bourne, head of the Independent Scientific Group on bTB, told Radio 4's Farming Today programme that the report lends weight to the calls from farmers for a sustained, extensive cull.
"This work…does reinforce previous advice that we have given to government that for badger culling to have even a modest impact on the disease in cattle, culling would need to be done very effectively, possibly near to elimination over a very large area of countryside and continued for a long time," he said.
According to the NFU, once a badger has TB it is evicted from its sett, forcing it to go in search of alternative accommodation. Although the major cause of badger deaths is road accidents, in areas affected by a bTB endemic, TB is estimated to be the biggest single natural cause of death.