FOOTBALLING badgers? What next? The Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, has accused badgers of moving the goalposts because they were not sporting enough to hang around to be shot. As a result, the controversial pilot badger culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset have failed to hit their targets of killing 70 per cent of the badgers in the cull zones during the permitted six week period. These disastrous badger culls were licenced by the Government to reduce bovine TB, an infectious disease of cattle heavily prevalent in parts of Staffordshire. It leads to cattle which are regularly tested for TB being destroyed if they test positive. The costs are enormous – 28,000 cattle were slaughtered in 2012 at a cost of £100m to the taxpayer. Scientific evidence has shown that bovine TB can be transmitted between cattle and to and from badgers. Badgers are thought to pass on the disease to cattle through their urine, faeces or through droplet infection in the farmyard or in cattle pastures. Hence the chorus of farmers demanding badger culls. But, despite the Government delaying the original cull and slashing by two thirds in 12 months its estimate of the number of badgers in the Somerset cull zone, marksmen failed to reach their 70 per cent target. They have been granted another three weeks. In Gloucestershire, the cull faces collapse after a legal challenge was launched last weekend against the Governments plan to more than double the killing period from the original six weeks to 14 weeks after just 30 per cent of badgers were shot. The number of badgers killed is critical to ensuring that the cull reduces TB in cattle as the decade long landmark Krebs trial of badger culling revealed that fleeing badgers can actually increase TB infections. The £50m Krebs trial showed that there could be a mere 16 per cent reduction in the rate of increase in bovine TB within a 60 square mile area if more than 70 per cent of badgers are killed in a series of culls held once a year for four years. Professor Krebs found that if fewer than 70 per cent of badgers are killed, the incidence of TB will not be reduced and may even increase because of the greater movements of badgers caused by the culling. Scientists have warned that a botched cull is worse than no cull at all. We now have the worst case scenario: badgers have been killed and TB in cattle may well get worse. There is a vaccine for badgers – the BCG jab which has been used by a number of wildlife and conservation bodies in England. The Welsh Assembly Government has chosen to vaccinate badgers and Northern Ireland is conducting research into an eradication programme involving vaccination and selected culling of badgers with signs of TB infection. Cattle vaccines cannot currently be used because it is impossible to tell the difference between a vaccinated animal and an infected animal and so meat and dairy products from the animal cannot be sold. Other measures to reduce TB transmission include improved biosecurity, particularly stopping badgers from getting into farm buildings where they can come into contact with cattle or feed stores. But the Government has chosen in a knee jerk reaction to farmers demands to exterminate badgers. The Government has to be seen to be doing something, even if that means ignoring the evidence. They are betting on the slim chance that bovine TB can be reduced by just 16 per cent if 70 per cent of badgers are killed. But the pilot culls have been a farce. Perhaps it is time for the Environment Secretary to go. Charlotte Atkins is a former MP and now a member of Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 10:24:09 +0000
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