Yesterday, Natural England issued a licence permitting the control of badgers in West Gloucestershire for the purpose of preventing the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB).
As I have written previously here and here, the dairy industry has endured terrible times while trying to cope with this devastating disease. However, we have never been convinced that the best way to help farmers is to force them to foot the bill for a contentious cull that is only expected to reduce outbreaks by about 16 per cent. The 16% figure is a mean figure for the whole of a cull area from para 5 of a Defra report by leading scientists which you can read here.
I think that this is a lot of effort for a small gain. Bovine TB needs tackling properly and we believe vaccination offers the best hope for cattle, badgers and the industry. It is clear that the Defra's Chief Scientist, Professor Sir Bob Watson, agrees. Have a listen to what he says in the video clip which you can watch here.
And there is another reason why there needs to be a broader response. If, after the trials, a cull in all affected areas (39,000 square kilometres in England) is sanctioned then up to 30 per cent of the English badger population could be removed. This reduction through a cull would be unprecedented and would severely affect the conservation status of one of Britain's most-loved mammals.
What's more, there are problems with the design of these pilots. Another Professor (Sir John Krebs) has pointed out that two six week trials will not produce results with any statistical rigour. It is also the case that there will be no testing or analysis of the impact of shooting free ranging badgers on perturbation.
We have taken the decision that this autumn we shall be taking positive steps towards controlling bovine TB by vaccinating badgers on our land at Highnam Woods in Gloucestershire which lies just outside one of the two UK badger trial control zones. While this is a small step, we think this is the best way to both ensure the health of the badgers on our land and act as good neighbours to nearby farmers who could be affected by the forthcoming trial.
If you feel strongly about the issue, there are two current live petitions (here and here) which are encouraging the government to stop the badger cull and think again.
What do you think about yesterday's decision?
It would be great to hear your views.
Boris,as usual someone try's to muddy the facts,quite obviously those facts I quote to any reasonable person prove that the culling at that time worked.Worse I think the studies and results quoted by yourself and other badger people saying that culling does not work are quotin trials that were set up with ridiculous ways of doing the cull that meant that inadequate numbers of badgers were trapped over ridiculous lengths of time that they had no chance of success and maybe this one will be no better.Only someone who is extremely determined to close their eyes to the obvious would say that the type of culling of badgers during 70s to 90s in keeping BTB in check did not work.
can I also raise the point made by Steb1 on the Guardian blog that TB is related to larger UK farm size and high levels of UK cattle movement vis lower levels of European infection? Is there evidence for this ?
Peter Plover
Sooty, that's not proof that's a correlation. There is a big difference. One the most extensive and detailed scientific studies into a wildlife management issue was carried out by the ISG into badger culling and it concluded that it had no meaningful part to play in controlling bTB. Not only does a cull risk making little difference it actually could make things worse. On top of that it is likely to be hugely devisive. If the Government really does want 'healthy badgers and healthy cattle' as they say they do, they should get behind vaccination. For both cattle and badgers if we are to eradicate the disease. Otherwise this is just a cheap meaningless sound bite. You are right it is a mess but a badger cull will turn into into a very bloody mess!
This is a sad day for science and rationally led policy; all the evidence is that this will spread the disease and I suspect lead many people to question whether or not they choose to use dairy produced in these circumstances. There is little doubt in my mind that badger numbers have increased considerably and I have some sympathy with Sooty's view but this not now a solution. Somewhere in my memory banks sits this fact MAFF/DEFRA have taken 40 years to produce a vaccine ; is this correct ?
It is great shame that natural England is reduced to stating that it will not permit "local extinctions"; this is a risible position for NE given that one would have thought this the simple purpose of the cull.
Therefore I accuse the leadership of NE of cowardice. It is a great shame that no one on the Board of Natural England has had the courage to "fall on their sword" and resign in defence of policy based on science and not the gutteral politics of the countryside, while also pointing a clear finger at MAFF for failing to produce a vaccine.
It is all a mess farmers,cattle and badgers suffering because no sensible policy to solve the problem.What a pity that those badger lovers got badger culling stopped in the 90s when I believe in one year we had less than 200 cattle slaughtered because of BTB.Late 90s around 5,000 then climbing to something like 40,000 slaughtered each year now.Proof that sensible badger culling however repulsive does work.