8 Nov 2024
Move comes as a campaign group warns that plans for the latest round of culling activity mean it is likely badgers will become extinct in several parts of England.
Allister Webb
Job Title
A vet at the forefront of efforts to vaccinate badgers against bTB has argued that culling should remain an option for helping to tackle the disease.
But BCVA Congress delegates also heard pleas for the profession to “help farmers to help themselves” by focusing on residual transmission following a disease breakdown.
Meanwhile, a campaign group has warned plans for the latest round of culling activity mean it is likely badgers will become extinct in several parts of England.
Several projects focused on tackling bTB were highlighted during the congress at Newport’s Celtic Manor, including the VESBA programme in East Sussex.
Almost 2,000 badgers are estimated to have been vaccinated against bTB since the Defra-funded programme was launched in 2021.
But even though the scheme was said to be meeting its targets and had changed attitudes among farmers, its director, Nick Pile, was reluctant to dispense with the culling option for disease control.
Mr Pile said: “While we support badger vaccination, we’re not anti-cull, and it’s important all the control methods are used.
“Large-scale vaccination is possible, but needs to be part of a package of control measures and that should include culling.”
But vet Brendan Griffin, who is part of the Pembrokeshire Project that is working to address persistent infections in areas of the Welsh county where culling is not an option due to devolved policy, argued that interventions should be focused on reducing residual disease levels.
He admitted that his own recommendations to government officials had previously concentrated solely on badger-related measures, as he described how the project had developed out of “sheer desperation” about the disease.
He said the scheme, which is supported by the Welsh Government, was intended to give both clinicians and producers more control over the disease, adding: “We want to help farmers to help themselves.”
Roger Lewis, whose own farm is one of the sites involved in the project, conceded it was unlikely to solve the problem of bTB in Wales, where culling is not used as a method of disease control, but said it had “given us a bit of hope” against it.
Although Defra has signalled its intention to phase out culling over the next five years, as part of the development of a new strategy for tackling bTB in England, critics insist it should be halted immediately, arguing it is unethical, ineffective and costly.
In its latest intervention, the Badger Trust highlighted newly published plans from Natural England that allow for culling activity to take place in several areas where the badger population is already estimated to be less than the targeted maximum of 30 per cent of pre-cull levels.
The group claimed that implementing the plans would make local extinction events “almost inevitable” and has demanded immediate action from ministers, who recently announced the appointment of the UK’s first special representative for nature, Ruth Davis.
Badger Trust chief executive Peter Hambly said: “The slaughter of more than half the badger population and the terrible effect on local ecosystems, including local extinction events of badgers after 250,000 years, is something they should be ashamed of.”
But a Defra spokesperson said: “Natural England closely monitors badger control operations during cull periods, to ensure local extinction of badgers is avoided and to monitor the humaneness, safety and effectiveness of culls.
“We are working at pace, rolling out a TB eradication package that will allow us to end the badger cull by the end of this parliament and stop the spread of this horrific disease.”
