Bovine TB: Research project summary
Project SE3036: A quantitative risk assessment on the role of wild deer in the perpetuation of TB in cattle.
Project duration: 7 months
This project provides a quantitative risk assessment on the contribution that wild deer make to the perpetuation of TB in cattle. The work combines laboratory and field studies with a literature review to produce the risk analysis.
The risk model outputs suggest that the risks posed to cattle by each deer species are lower than those posed by badgers. With the exception of some local areas where red and fallow deer are at high density, wild deer are most likely to be spill over hosts for bovine TB for cattle. This also suggests that attempting to control bovine TB in cattle by culling deer is unlikely to be effective for disease prevention in cattle or cost effective. However, where deer are at very high densities management of the population may be worthwhile to reduce the likelihood of bovine TB becoming established and maintained within the population.
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Page last modified:
July 7, 2008