Culling badgers in order to help prevent the spread of tuberculosis (TB) in cattle could be making the problem worse, according to new research.
Scientists have tracked the movements of surviving badgers after a cull and found they roam 61% further afield.
The researchers from the Zoologocal Society of London (ZSL) and Imperial College London also found surviving badgers visited 45% more fields each month following a cull and the odds of a badger visiting neighbor territories each night increased 20 – fold, potentially increasing the chance of TB transmission to other animals including cattle.
The study followed 67 badgers across 20 cattle farms in areas with and without badger culling in Cornwall between 2013 and 2017.
Researchers have been carrying out trials where badgers are vaccinated against TB in order understand whether it could be a viable, non-lethal alternative to culling.
Professor Rosie Woodroffe from ZSL’s Institute of Zoology said “As badger-to-cattle transmission is likely to occur through contamination of their shared environment, and TB bacteria can remain viable for long periods of time in the environment, the effects of increases in ranging behavior could create a source of infection for several months – long after the individual badger has been culled.
“In contrast, studies have shown that vaccination prompts no changes in badgers’ ranging behavior.”
Bovine TB can be devastating for farmers and costs taxpayers £ 100 million a year.
David Barton has lost count of the number of outbreaks of TB he has had on his cattle farm in Cirencester, which lies in a ” high risk “area for the disease in Gloucestershire.
Over the years he says he has lost more than 150 cattle to the disease. Once they have been diagnosed they have to be destroyed.
“When TB comes in and takes them out that the breeding stock gone,” he says.
“It’s totally devastating. It leaves you completely empty and physically, emotionally, mentally, it affects the entire family. It is absolutely awful. “
He believes the culling of badgers, which began in Gloucestershire in 2013, has helped to reduce TB among cattle. He now hasn’t had an outbreak on his farm since 2016.
“I just look at the science and the evidence as yes it has worked,” he says.
“In the areas where culling is taking place we’re seeing a much bigger decline in TB and that’s really all I want to see. I don’t mind which tools I use but they have to have an evidence and scientific base for them to work. “
He has yet to be convinced that vaccination of badgers could be an alternative to culling.
“Firstly I need to see the evidence base that it reduces TB in cattle,” he says.
“It may reduce TB in badgers but where does it start to reduce TB in cattle? Where is the tipping point? We don’t know that.
” The second thing is: how is it going to be done? Who’s going to do it and who’s going to pay for it? “
A spokesperson from Defra said” There is no single measure that will provide an easy answer to beating the disease and we are pursuing a range of interventions to eradicate it by 2038, including tighter cattle movement controls, regular testing and vaccinations . “
The Government points to research it says shows badger culls in high risk areas have had a positive impact on the number of cases of TB in cattle.
But a decision by ministers last month to expand culling to 11 new areas has outraged campaigners who are concerned badgers could be virtually wiped out in some parts of the UK
CEO of the Badger Trust, Dominic Dyer , told Sky News: “I don’t think that there is any good evidence to show the badger culling on the scale the government has undertaken since 2013 is having any impact at all.
“They’ve only tested about 900 for the disease, of which 85% were disease free so the vast majority of animals don’t have TB, so you could kill them all and it would make no difference.
“Many of them have been killed very cruelly as well and they’ve got no evidence to show that it’s working so I think it’s a disastrous, cruel policy. “
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