Badger Cull
Monday 23rd January 2012
Badger (c) Andrew Mason
Worcestershire Wildlife Trust is disappointed to learn that the badger cull will be going ahead.
The Trust is also disappointed to discover that parts of Worcestershire, notably areas within Wychavon and the Malvern Hills, are included in one of two trial areas.
Natural England are currently proposing not to reveal exactly which parts of Worcestershire are to be included; making the Trust's position as a landowner very difficult.
Colin Raven, Director, stated "We reiterate our position that we oppose the cull as independent scientific evidence concluded that culling would result in an increase in bTB infection rates.
"We repeat that solutions lie in biosecurity measures on farms and development of vaccines for both cattle and badgers."
For regular updates on the position visit the The Wildlife Trusts website.
Recognising the impact of Bovine TB
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. While we need to find the right mechanisms to control the disease, we do not believe that a badger cull is the answer.
The Government should put biosecurity and vaccination at the centre of efforts to tackle this disease rather than a badger cull and 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.
Our neighbouring Trust in Gloucestershire has had many problems with bovine TB (bTB) at its Greystones Farm nature reserve. In June it became the first non-Government organisation to pay for deployment of the new bTB badger vaccine.
Chief Executive Gordon McGlone explained "It doesn't cure badgers but at the end of our five year programme the social groups we will have treated should have a high level of resistance."
Our Trustees in Worcestershire have considered the issue and fully support the Gloucestershire pilot. They'll be discussing what actions are appropriate for us as results and evidence becomes clear. In the meantime, the Trustees have confirmed their opposition to culling on our reserves should this be requested.
How culling badgers could make things 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'.
Find out more
The following downloadable documents explain our view:
Downloads
| Filename | File size |
|---|---|
| Impacts of a badger cull.pdf | 3.17 MB |
| Bovine TB & Vaccination COLOUR FINAL December 2011.doc | 112 KB |
| Gloucestershire Vaccination Programme.pdf | 826.73 KB |
| Template letter for MPs December 2011.doc | 28.5 KB |
Tagged with: Badger cull, Badgers, Bovine TB, Cattle, Government