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PRESS RELEASE: WELCOME FOR NATIONAL TRUST VACCINATION MOVE

THE BADGER TRUST
19 April 2011

The Badger Trust welcomes the National Trust’s decision to support the vaccination of badgers against bovine tuberculosis (bTB) on its land in South Devon, although it regrets an earlier National Trust statement that it would not object to culls taking place in areas including its land, where it could be shown all other routes had been explored.

The Badger Trust says vaccination is the proven way forward rather than killing, which it emphasises would risk the spread of disease to adjoining land. Because of perturbation it is almost inevitable that in the short term, bTB rates will rise.

Defra research published in November last year said a key finding of the field study, conducted over four years in a population of more than 800 wild badgers in Gloucestershire, was “that vaccination resulted in a 74 per cent reduction in the proportion of wild badgers testing positive to the antibody blood test for TB in badgers.” [1]

The computer modelling by the Food and Environment Research Agency claims that a combination of culling and vaccination was likely to be most effective, except that about twice as much effort and expense was needed than with either measure done in isolation. But the Badger Trust says they are not equivalent. Crucially, the modelling exercise said that low rates of land access for culling, low culling efficiency, or the early cessation of culling could lead to an overall increase in cattle herd breakdowns. All these difficulties would be likely to result from the Coalition’s heavily criticised proposals to allow farmers to shoot at their own expense free running badgers.

NOTE

1. The results of the research has been published on the Defra website and is available at: http://ww2.defra.gov.uk/food-farm/animals/diseases/tb/ 


Jack Reedy
THE BADGER TRUST 

 

 

 

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