Staffordshire Badger Conservation Group

BADGERS AND TB                                               

It is accepted that there is a link between badgers and cattle in the spread of bovine TB (bTB) but the greatest transmission is from cattle to cattle due to:
weaknesses in the current TB testing regulations
Most cattle are never tested
Skin test misses around 20%of infected animals.
Infected cattle sold on to infect previously clear herds.
Poor biosecurity on farms

During the foot & mouth outbreak there was no testing and movement restrictions were in force.  But when movement restrictions were lifted, untested cattle were bought & sold with widespread movement throughout the country.  The result was outbreaks of bTB in areas free of the disease.

Badgers to cattle transmission

In 1971 a dead badger infected with bovine TB (bTB) was discovered on a farm that had suffered a bTB outbreak in its cattle herd and this seemed to give backing to the theory that badgers are a cause of TB in cattle.  Since then there has been continued debate on whether badger culling could be effective in controlling the disease.
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Over the intervening years, a number of different measures have been tried to control the disease in cattle by culling badgers. A 10-year (1998-2007) £50 million taxpayer-funded research programme by the government’s Independent Scientific Group (ISG) concluded that a badger cull would have no meaningful impact on the bTB epidemic and that on a comparatively local scale it could make matters worse. 
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Badger Vaccine project

In 2009 Defra announced the launch of a Badger Vaccine Deployment Project. 
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The purpose of the project will be to develop practical know-how for vaccinating badgers and will be conducted over five years in six areas worst affected by bovine TB in cattle in England. 
One of the six areas is in Staffordshire in the Eccleshall area.

Badgers in the six areas will be trapped, vaccinated and released with the aim of reducing bTB in the badger population in these areas.  Addressing this as just one of the possible transmission pathways in the spread of bovine TB in cattle could contribute to reducing the level of bTB outbreaks.

UPDATE   Since the election of the new government in May 2010, it appears that this project will now be tested in just one area. The project will be based around the Stroud area in Gloucestershire and will commence in July.
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