badgers and T.B.

Present Situation

In 1971 bovine tuberculosis was confirmed in a badger found on a Gloucestershire farm and in 1973 the disease had been found in 36 out of 165 badger carcasses examined. The farming ministry therefore concluded that badgers were responsible for the persistence of TB in the cattle population of the Southwest. As a result of this a culling strategy of varying sorts has been applied to the Southwest since 1975. This has cost over £15 million.and the incidence of TB in cattle in this region has increased.

After the BSE crisis in cattle in the late 80's and the subsequent large scale movement of cattle in the 90's to replace animals culled due to BSE, the TB problem spread to other areas of high cattle density. During this time the badger population in these areas also increased. To find out the extent to which badgers were involved in this spread of TB, if at all, the Ministry set up a three ring culling trial in various regions. This involved three circular areas, each about half the size of the Isle of Wight, in which one of the following would be applied.

Ring one - remove all badgers

Ring two - remove badgers that are close to any herds that suffer a TB breakdown.

Ring three - No badgers are removed even if any TB breakdowns occur.

The trial is expensive costing £3 million a year. It also has its problems such as the difficulty in ensuring all badgers are killed, pro badger groups removing badgers from traps and land owners killing badgers in no cull areas. Whether the trial is capable of producing a valid result is unclear. Also if some connection with badgers is proven does this mean all badgers in the UK will be killed. If the trial is non-conclusive, after all badgers have been culled for the last 25 years and we still do not know for certain how or if they pass on TB to cattle, then all these badgers will have been killed for nothing.

Discussion

Badgers can carry bovine TB but their level of resistance is high. Of the 36 badgers originally found to be carrying TB only 1 in 10 would likely to have been infectious. This contrasts with cattle which have a low ability to resist the virus and invariably become infectious. If you put badgers that are carrying TB under stress, they are more likely to succumb to the disease and become infectious. In trying to remove badger social groups it is very difficult to kill all the badgers present. The few that are missed will be under great stress because you have just killed all their social group members. If they are carrying TB the result may be that they become infectious. They will also roam further afield and in doing so come into contact with other social groups and thus spread the TB even further.

If I had dairy cattle and I had a badger sett on my land I would be concerned. I may conclude that despite it being illegal it may be better to remove the badgers. If I successfully remove them all I now have is a vacant territory which will soon be recolonised by neighboring groups. These groups may contain infectious badgers and the ones I removed may have been clean. If I unsuccessfully remove all the badgers the ones left may now spread TB due to the reasons mentioned earlier. It may have been better to look after my social group that defends my land from neighboring possible problem badgers. After all they have caused me no problems in the past and more than likely had no TB anyway.

The above is a tongue in cheek view of what is a very complex problem. What is certain is that despite the actions over the last 25 years we still do not know how or for certain if badgers infect cattle. The level of TB in cattle has spread dramatically in the last 5 years and now includes areas other than the South West. The following points also apply;

- The skin test used on cattle can miss 5% of infected animals thereby maintaining a reservoir. These cattle could be as likely to infect badgers as the other way round. The reservoir in cattle would remain even if every badger in the land were killed.

- A better test for cattle ( a blood test ) is available but deemed too expensive.

- An oral vaccine for badgers is available but not sufficiently tested yet.

- The threat to public health by Bovine TB is small. Most people were vaccinated as children; most milk is pasteurized. Human type TB is a different disease.

As a final footnote, is it right that it is government policy to remove a protected animal from large parts of the British countryside. If you disagree with the policy visit the National Federation of Badger Groups site to find out how you can campaign against it.

Badgers and T.B.