Badgers and bovine tuberculosis (bTB)

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BadgerBadger (credit Wildstock)

Bovine TB (bTB) costs the UK millions of pounds every year and The Wildlife Trusts recognise the hardship that it causes in the farming community. However, we believe that a badger cull is not the answer.

UPDATE 20 March. Welsh Environment Minister John Griffiths announces the Welsh Assembly Government will pursue vaccination of badgers in the control of bovine TB this summer. Read our press release.

 

 

Gordon McGlone, Chief Executive of Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust explains the results of their Summer 2011 badger vaccination programme.

Badgers and bovine TB

The Wildlife Trusts are very conscious of the hardship that bovine TB (bTB) causes in the farming community and the need to find the right mechanisms to control the disease. We believe the Government should put biosecurity and vaccination at the centre of efforts to tackle this disease rather than a badger cull. We urge the Government to pursue the following as a matter of priority:

Biosecurity

All possible measures should be pursued to prevent disease transmission on-farm.

Badger vaccination

Support landowners to use the injectable BadgerBCG vaccine.  Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust used the BadgerBCG vaccine on seven nature reserves in 2011. We also urge Defra to continue development of an oral badger vaccine.

Cattle vaccine

Complete development of a cattle vaccine and secure change to EU regulation to permit its commercial deployment.

Find out more

The following documents explain our view and are available to download at the bottom of this page:

  • A Briefing on Bovine TB and Vaccination explaining why The Wildlife Trusts believe biosecurity and vaccination should be at the centre of efforts to tackle this disease;
  • A letter to send to your local Member of Parliament urging the Government to change its approach to tackling bTB.

How could a badger cull make the bovine TB problem worse?

Badgers typically live in social groups of four to seven animals with defined territorial boundaries. Culling disrupts the organisation of these social groups, causing surviving badgers to range more widely than normal and increasing the risks of disease transmission. This is known as the 'perturbation effect'. The Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB concluded in its final report (2007) that it was 'unable to conceive of a system of culling, other than the systematic elimination, or virtual elimination, of badgers over very extensive areas, that would avoid the serious adverse consequences of perturbation'.

Badger peturbation effect diagramDownload our leaflet explaining the perturbation effect and the problems with using badger culling as a technique to control bovine tuberculosis in cattle.

Downloads

FilenameFile size
Bovine TB & Vaccination COLOUR FINAL December 2011.doc112 KB
Gloucestershire Vaccination Programme.pdf826.73 KB
Template letter for MPs FINAL.doc28.5 KB