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Bovine TB: Badgers and bTB
Both badgers and cattle have been shown to carry bovine TB, and there has been much debate around the transmission of the disease between the two species. This page details the most recent developments in relation to controlling
the reservoir of bTB in the badger population in England.
To read more on related issues please click on one of the following links:
Whether or not to cull badgers for bovine TB control
Bovine TB is transmitted between cattle, amongst badgers and between cattle and badgers. But what has dominated debate is whether badger culling could be effective in controlling the disease. On the 7th July 2008 Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs made a statement to Parliament that the Government’s policy will be not to issue any licences to farmers to cull badgers for TB control, while remaining open to the possibility of revisiting this policy under exceptional circumstances, or if new scientific evidence were to become available. The announcement detailed increased investment in vaccines and the Secretary of State’s intention to establish a Bovine TB Partnership Group with the industry to develop a joint plan for tackling bovine TB. A news release has been issued and a copy of the statement is available.
Guidance has also been issued to Natural England regarding the issue of licences to take or kill badgers for the prevention of bovine TB.
The Secretary of State considered a wide range of evidence in reaching his decision including the ISG’s Final Report and that of the Government’s former Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir David King as well as the practicalities of delivering an effective cull and public acceptability. Part of the evidence was also consideration of the methods that could be used for culling badgers and the following reports formed part of the evidence Ministers considered in reaching a decision about bovine TB and badger culling.
Reports
All the documents below are in PDF format.
- Overview of research into carbon monoxide fumigation as a method of culling badgers to prevent the spread of Bovine Tuberculosis (20 KB)
- A Computational Fluid Dynamics Assessment of Factors which will Effect Carbon Monoxide Dispersion within a Simplified Badger Sett (1.5 MB)
- Fumigation of a Y-shaped tunnel using a de-tuned petrol vehicle engine (500 KB).
- Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Modelling of Carbon Monoxide Dispersion within a Badger Sett (800 KB)
- A Comparison of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Model with Experimental Results of Carbon Monoxide Dispersion within a Purpose Built Tunnel System (500 KB)
- Fumigation of a Y-shaped tunnel using a portable CO generator (700 KB)
- An investigation of the ability of computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
to predict the dispersion of carbon monoxide in soil and other porous media (1 MB) - An improved model for simulating the movement of carbon monoxide in a dry soil tunnel (200 KB)
- Review of effectiveness, environmental impact, humaneness and feasibility of lethal methods for badger control (400 KB)
- Further development and validation of a CFD model of gas diffusion within a soil tunnel (1 MB)
- Humane despatch of badgers captured in cage traps – the feasibility of using frangible ammunition (1.3 MB)
- Trials of a body snare designed to catch and hold badgers (300 KB)
- Shooting as a potential tool in badger population control. Report to Defra by The Game Conservancy Trust (PDF 650 KB).
Vaccination
As part of Defra’s commitment to tackling the issue of bovine TB (bTB), Government has invested in a significant research programme looking into the development of vaccines for both cattle and badgers. Moreinformation on vaccination is available here.
Reducing the risk of bTB transmission between badgers and cattle
Advice on husbandry best practice has been developed by the Bovine TB Husbandry Working Group in partnership with Defra. This focuses primarily on measures aimed at keeping cattle and badgers apart and keeping badgers out of farm buildings. Two leaflets containing advice are also available: Do you know what's happening in your feed store? (PDF 848 KB) and Bovine TB: Do you know how to reduce your risk? (PDF 797 KB).
ISG Final Report
On 18 June 2007, the ISG published their final report (PDF 2.5 MB - Please note this is a large file), concluding their work on the trial.
Report of the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser
Following the ISG’s Final Report, Defra commissioned an assessment of scientific evidence relating to badgers and TB in cattle from Sir David King, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser. The report of this assessment, Bovine Tuberculosis in Cattle and Badgers (PDF 100 KB), is now available.
Public consultation
A public consultation on the principle and method of badger culling ran from 15 December 2005 to 10 March 2006. (The consultation document (PDF 416 KB), partial Regulatory Impact Assessment(PDF 485 KB) and letter to consultees (PDF 37 KB) are available). An updated reference list (PDF 40 KB) for the consultation document is available here.
The consultation received over 47,000 responses and we are grateful to everyone who took the time to respond. As part of the consultation process Citizens Panels were also held during the consultation period. The panels consisted of a small group of members of the public, and were held to consider the issue of bovine TB and badger culling. Reports of the public consultation (PDF 227 KB) and citizens panels (PDF 1.8 MB - NB large file) were both published on 12 July 2006.
Page last modified: 3 March 2009