大象传媒

Badger culling to end in England within five years

Close up of badgerImage source, Getty
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Badger culling will end in England within five years as part of a shift in the fight against bovine tuberculosis, the government said on Friday.

As part of the new TB eradication strategy, badgers will be vaccinated instead of killed and work to develop a separate vaccine for livestock will also be stepped up.

The government hopes the strategy will deliver its target to eradicate the disease in England by 2038.

While campaigners Badger Trust criticised the government for allowing culling already licensed this year to go ahead, the National Farmers Union said culling had worked against TB and shouldn't be ruled out.

The government said its new strategy will deliver its manifesto pledge to end the 鈥渋neffective鈥 culling of badgers.

It has set a target to end all culling by the end of this Parliament, which could be in 2029.

Daniel Zeichner, minister for food security and rural affairs, said the disease had 鈥渄evastated British farmers and wildlife for far too long鈥.

鈥淥ur comprehensive TB eradication package will allow us to end the badger cull by the end of this parliament and stop the spread of this horrific disease,鈥 he added.

Image source, getty
Image caption,

The new strategy shifts the focus onto vaccinating badgers instead of killing them

Over the past decade, outbreaks of the bovine tuberculosis have seen more than 278,000 cattle compulsorily slaughtered, according to the government.

It also says 230,000 badgers have been killed in efforts to control the disease.

It costs taxpayers more than 拢100m every year to deal with outbreaks.

Under the new strategy, a 鈥渂adger vaccinator field force鈥 will be set up to increase the number of badgers vaccinated.

The impact of those vaccinations will be analysed to see if it affects the incidence of bTB in cattle and badgers will be monitored to find out the prevalence of the disease in the population.

In the meantime, work on the development of a vaccine in cattle itself will be stepped up, with field trials undertaken in the coming months.

Christine Middlemiss, the government鈥檚 chief veterinary officer, said there was no single way to combat bovine tuberculosis and that the new strategy would 鈥渃ontinue to be led by the very best scientific and epidemiological evidence鈥.

The first badger population survey in over a decade will also be carried out to establish current numbers and the impact of widespread culling over the past decade.

But Badger Trust said the government needed to do more to stop the transmission of the disease between cattle on farms themselves.

The trust said tens of thousands of badgers could still be culled this year under existing licences that the government has said it will honour.

Peter Hambly, the trust鈥檚 chief executive said: 鈥淭he new announcement on bovineTB keeps badgers in the firing line.

鈥淚t focuses on badgers rather than cattle - when it is cattle that are the main spreaders of this cattle disease.

鈥淚t admits the government doesn鈥檛 know how many badgers are left or how many even have bTB. They haven鈥檛 counted them and haven鈥檛 tested them but continue to slaughter them.鈥

The National Farmers Union cautioned in a statement that while vaccination trials were encouraging: "Badger culling provides success and has a part to play in a strategy where there is evidence that it is the right tool to contain and reduce TB."

鈥淚 urge Ministers to move at pace and with a clear view of the science," said NFU President Tom Bradshaw.

"This terrible disease continues to plague farmers and their livestock, and聽while聽significant elements of the government鈥檚聽proposed聽TB strategy are still being researched and are聽not yet deployable at scale, they must not overlook the contribution of the tried, tested and successful disease control model."