Wildlife Reservoirs, is the badger a costly distraction, a scapegoat ...?
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Thomas (Guest)
22 Jul 2010, 6:43 PM
Prof John Bourne, who conducted the infamous ten year, government-funded study which showed that badger killing is a waste of time and money, recalled what he was told by a senior politician:
"Fine, John, we accept your science, but we have to offer farmers a carrot. And the only carrot we can possibly give them is culling badgers."
This strand on the forum deals mainly with the wildlife reservoirs involved in the bovine TB saga. In the UK this is, as we are probably all aware by now, believed to be mainly the badger. No other mammal has been studied in the UK as intensely as the badger so actually we don't really know just how other animals are implicated. In other countries different species are implicated. There are some anomalies too, including the example below.
Has anyone an explanation for the following!
According to last issue of Gwlad, Australia is now bTB free after 27 years of trying. We are told it has no wildlife reservoir. New Zealand is still aiming for eradication. It has a wildlife reservoir - possums - which are considered a pest species as not indigenous so are being culled - and vaccinated!
HOWEVER - possums ARE native to Australia and bTB was rife in country for years so - why are the Australian possums not a reservoir?
Sally
28 Feb 2019, 5:59 PM
Badger protection, badger culling and the law. Worrying times. By Tom Langton
Badgers are social animals and watching them quietly in gardens or from a hide is a delight. Just like cats and dogs, their playful rough and tumble behavior as cubs and adults is just one part of their complex social organization. Although nocturnal in habit, by day they often live in close-knit social groups underground in setts.
Badgers were protected from cruel persecution for gambling and with dogs by the 1973 Badgers Act and this was strengthened in 1992. As a result of legal protection, studies suggest that badgers have steadily recovered since their local extermination in parts of the country in past centuries, and may now be returning to more natural levels.
However, few would have foreseen the calamity that has taken place in England in recent years,starting with government studies in 2007 using mathematical modelling of field trials. These suggest that badgers pass bovine TB back to cattle at levels that can be reduced by badger culling.
Sadly badgers are infected from bovine tuberculosis (bTB or cattle TB) when eating earthworms infected with bTB bacteria from cow pats or spread slurry. In the near eradication of the disease in the 1960’s, infected badgers did not spread bTB back to cattle in places that it had been removed from, suggesting that the badger-to-cattle pathway is relatively rare or even non-existent.
The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 however allows badgers to be removed to stop disease spreading, and a government policy in 2011 was forced through. All at a time when prevailing academic opinion was that it could not make any meaningful contribution to bTB reduction. A small number of powerful government employed and funded vets and intensive livestock representatives pushed the policy forwards, with major charities not strong enough to stand up to them.
Culling began in Somerset and Gloucestershire in 2013 and spread to Dorset in 2015, then to Devon, Cornwall, Wiltshire and Herefordshire. Since then, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cumbria have been added. This year, culling is threatened in Avon, Berkshire, Derbyshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Sussex and further into East England. Some think the government aim is to reduce badger numbers everywhere to delay their final recovery. In England, so far since 2013 over 67,000 badgers have been shot in cage traps or at night in the open using some methods the British Veterinary Association say are inhumane.
Studies of culling since 2013 in Gloucestershire and Somerset have led to claims by Ministers that culling is working, but close inspection shows this to be doubtful. In fact in 2018 in Gloucestershire, new incidents of bTB doubled. In truth the situation is muddled and not set up to be reliably monitored. It is a shambles and mess that one senior government expert described as ‘an epic fail’.
A government review in 2018 indicated that unless farmers improve testing and biosecurity the contribution of other measures is unlikely to be enough. In other words, the badgers killed over the last five years may have all died in vain because the main cause of disease is not being properly addressed.
Beyond the shocking and sad cruelty of the culling, with wounded badgers running off to die at length and in pain in their setts, are wider effects on the ecosystems that are disrupted by upsetting predator balances. Legal challenges have resulted in acceptance of the problem and a further case
will go to court this February. Further challenges to culling methods and issuing of licences are
underway. At time of writing, five High Court actions aiming for Judicial Review are live, managed by a large team of volunteer ecologists, disease experts and fundraisers.
All this shows that we need to work harder to ensure that laws passed to protect our wild animals are not abused on flimsy evidence by small vested interests.
If you would like to support people who are trying to help badgers and their wild communities,please go to the Just Giving crowd fund pages. You can find the Badger Crowd appeal being run by
High Court Rules Against Natural England As Failed Badger Culling Approaches New Legal Test.
A ruling against Natural England this week means that vital evidence will now be put in front of a High Court Judicial Review Hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice London on Thursday 28th February/Friday 1st March, in under two weeks-time.
At a hearing this week, an attempt by government agency Natural England to prevent submission to the court of a witness statement for the claimant from ecological impact expert Dominic Woodfield was overturned. It details omissions in Natural England’s assessments of ‘collateral damage’ to precious sites & species.
Legal cases addressing the risk of damage to rare and protected species and nature reserves from badger culling activities have been brought by ecologist Tom Langton, supported by a coalition of Badger protection organisations, wildlife charities and members of the public. The claim is that Natural England’s issue of culling licences is unlawful due to inadequate checks and procedures since the badger culls began in 2013. The claims surround controversial permissions for the killing 67,000 badgers so far across the West of England, with fears that up to a further 40,000 badgers could be condemned to die this year.
The boost for litigation against the issuing of badger cull licenses comes at a time when an application is pending on two related cases from 2018 at the Court of Appeal. Two further challenges against badger culling in Cumbria and across the rest of England are in their early stages and further challenges are possible in 2019. The decision coincides with at a time when the government, farmers and vets are confronted by increasing bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in the first pilot badger cull area in Gloucestershire, where figures for 2018 indicate a 53% increase in breakdowns, starkly illustrating the failure of Defra’s 2011 Policy.
This is in line with expert warnings that continuing to cull badgers there could be counter- productive and hence effectively illegal as it is not capable of preventing the spread of disease as required by the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.
In a recent independent review commissioned by the government found it (not surprisingly) found that culls made only a modest contribution to reducing TB in cattle. The review called for more curbs on cattle trading and better biosecurity on farms.
New analysis of the latest government data shows the number of herds hit by bovine TB in the west Gloucestershire cull zone increased by 29% this year, suggesting efforts to control the disease in one of the original cull zones may be failing. It is common sense, to those who have been following this fiasco for many years, THE BADGER IS BEING USED AS A SCAPEGOAT. Will this species follow the many others that the human species have virtually wiped out?
Man who uncovered BSE scandal now calls for end to badger culling
Things have now got heated as the man who uncovered the BSE scandal wants Farming Minister to 'consider his position' in government.
The man who spearheaded an investigation into the BSE crisis has called for the government’s Farming Minister “to consider his position,” calling a report into Gloucestershire’s badger cull ‘fake science’ and ‘barefaced lies.’
The veterinary surgeon and Director of Prion Interest Group, said: “badger culls should stop today; if one more badger is killed it’s a travesty.”
Dr Iain McGill has publicly ‘called out’ Defra (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) for “making misleading statements” about the levels of Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) in counties like Gloucestershire.
The comments have come to light on the eve of publication of the Godfrey report.
The report is an independent review, set up by Environment Secretary Michael Gove, into Defra's efforts to control bTB.
What the letter said.
In a letter to Chief Vet, Christine Middlemiss, Dr McGill's campaign group requested “her to go to ministers and get them to retract the barefaced lies they have been telling.
They claim the government are “lying about the success rate of their skin test, and telling more lies to cover it up.”
'Badger culling hasn't worked'
“We’ve absolutely had enough; we will not have our reputation besmirched by this thoroughly fake science.”
He claims the issue of bTB “will never go away under current plans, forget 2038, the government could spend 38 millennia and it will never go away.”
Dr McGill claims: “the levels of bTB were falling three years before the cull began; as soon as the culling started the levels plateau.
“Badger culling absolutely hasn’t worked, the government need to call it off, stop lying and stop hiding behind the pseudo-science.
“We have the data to show that there is a huge spike in bTB in Gloucestershire” since the cull began.
He claims that there had been a 29 per cent increase in the number of cattle herds under restriction since the cull began, which is contrary to the conclusion made by government minister George Eustice MP.
Major reform' is needed.
Dr McGill suggests a major reform of the dairy industry is required, saying: "It's a dairy problem. Dairy cows are dangerously inbred and have little resistance to infections.”
He also suggests vaccination, similar to a basic BCG, as a solution to reduce bTB “by 60 to 70 per cent at a stroke.”
But claims that it is “far more important to vaccinate the badgers.
“Badgers do not give tuberculosis to cattle. No wildlife can give tuberculosis to cattle. It’s a complete myth.”
Have badger culls worked in Gloucestershire?
Dr McGill said: “They have been told a whole lot of codswallop for 50 years, so it’s not surprising they believe it.
“Farmers are being hemmed in on all sides. They produce milk 365 days a year, selling it sometimes for less than it costs to produce. They are under immense economic pressure, they go TB free then it comes back so they want someone to blame.
It’s all a myth, it is a cow disease. It is spread between cows but the government doesn’t want to admit that.
“The government says its badgers, so they organise armed gangs to go kill them. But I understand it.
“They should be livid with the government and they should be livid with Defra; they have been lied to.”
“They are lying to farmers they are lying to the public, and they are lying to parliament – which is a serious offence.”
A Gloucestershire campaign group echoed the calls for 'the immediate cessation to all culling of badgers in response to the recent expose of Defra.'
Gloucestershire Badger Office Chairman Lynn Sawyer said:"The whole thing is a complete red herring."
Lynn says her group have witnessed 'awful' things in the field, including 'sett blocking and badgers being culled in areas not even designated as badger cull zones.'
She claims that in one instance: "The Fire Brigade have been called out because a sett was lit on fire."
Lynn said:"We have seen farmers spreading slurry across their fields and fox hunts taking place across bTB infected farmlands," both of which have been attributed to the spreading of the disease.
She said the organisation: "does not support any killings of wild animals, so we wouldn't support this cull even it was seen to be working, regardless of the science.
"It has to stop. Sets have been dug out, we have seen badgers in cages and being shot at. They are seen as collateral damage."
Three Counties Hunt Saboteurs and Cirencester Illegal Hunt Watch data
149 badger setts were discovered to be blocked during the 2017-18 hunting season. 108 in Gloucestershire were reported to the police. Their data states that the vast majority of the blocked setts that were discovered and recorded (94) were freshly blocked and found in proximity to known hunt meets. The report determines ‘freshly blocked’ as 'not more than a week ago.' The groups behind the report said: "It should also be noted that many of these badger sett blockings have been carried out within the official badger cull zone, increasing the threat to bio-security in a bTB area."
But the number of zones available for badger culling has recently increased in Gloucestershire, with Natural England setting a number of targets for two areas specifically.
One cull area, which has been in place in Gloucestershire since 2013, has a set target of between 28 and 927 for this open season.
An authorisation letter was sent out September 7 approving a cull in more than one area of Gloucestershire.
They set a target for this open season for between 1,163 and 1,579.
The licences are for four years and allow specific individuals to cull badgers each year for specific dates between June 1 and January 31.
Gloucestershire constabulary wrote on Facebook on November 12: "Did you know that it's illegal to take, injure or kill a badger? It's also illegal to dig, block or interfere with a badger sett."
Lynn said "The police in Gloucestershire are very much on side, but it is impossible to be watching badger setts day in, day out."
Badger cull: Blaming wildlife while neglecting cheap farming improvements 'severely hampering' bovine TB fight, review finds | The Independent
The government’s bovine tuberculosis (bTB) strategy has allowed the culling of tens of thousands of badgers but neglected basic infection prevention on farms which is “severely hampering” efforts to control the disease, a major report has found.
The authors said that preventing the disease spreading between cattle on farms and in livestock trading was the most important way to control infection.
“If I had to say more one than the other it’s definitely more on the cattle to cattle side [than badger to cattle infection],” the review’s chair Sir Charles Godfray, professor of zoology at Oxford University, said.
“We realise that wildlife does have a role in this disease, but it’s wrong to put all the blame on wildlife and to use this as an excuse to not make hard decisions in industry, which is going to cost the industry money.”
Sir Charles said there was also an “urgent need for more evidence on the efficacy of vaccinations” to inoculate badgers. This approach is being used in cross-border efforts in Ireland, and the review panel called for government to adopt its own trials to develop the evidence.
While recognising the burden that bTB places on farmers and their families, the Bovine TB Strategy Review said there is “disappointingly low” uptake of basic biosecurity measures to limit its impact.
The report blames this on the backlash around badger culling which has had the “unfortunate consequence of … deflecting focus from what can be done by the individual farmer and livestock community”.
“In particular, the poor take up of on-farm biosecurity measures and the extent of trading in often high-risk cattle is, we believe, severely hampering disease control,” it said.
Other measures include keeping neighbouring herds separated to prevent the tuberculosis bacteria passing from nose to nose contact, and preventing badgers from getting on to farms, particularly around feed bins.
Recent evidence also raises the case for using a battery of tests on herds where bTB is suspected after research found a commonly used skin test is ineffective. It also highlights the spreading of manure slurry on fields which can increase the spread of bTB, and can be addressed with different treating methods or with more modern equipment to inject the slurry under the soil.
These efforts could have a greater impact on the spread of disease than culling, which the Badger Trust charity estimates could have killed as many as 75,000 badgers at a cost of “over £50m of public money”.
The review said the best evidence on the effect of culling remains the Randomised Badger Cull Trial (RBCT) that ran between 1998 and 2005 and suggests it can lower bTB incidence by around 15 per cent.
However Sir Charles said the group was “explicitly” told not to consider evidence from current culls that have been underway since 2013, although figures from Gloucestershire and Somerset were consistent with the RBCT.
The latest culls have incurred significant costs. The review says 32 culls have been authorised since 2013, at an average cost of £600,000 per site over a four year period – more than a third of this cost on policing.
The review’s publication comes a day after leading vets accused the government of “barefaced lies” in claiming these cull areas had already reduced bTB in cattle.
A letter published in the Vet Record journal argues data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is “unclear and deliberately opaque” and that bTB rates were falling before culling began.
The letter’s lead author, veterinary surgeon Dr Iain McGill of the Prion Interest Group, told the BBC there is now evidence bTB was rising in these areas, saying: “Badger culling has not worked. They are issuing barefaced lies in this matter.”
These concerns have been echoed by other campaigners.
“To date the government have spent over £50m of public money undertaking the largest destruction of a protected species in living memory,” said Dominic Dyer, CEO of the Badger Trust.
“Despite this huge slaughter the government have no reliable evidence that badger culling is lowering bovine bTB in cattle.
He added: “Although Sir Charles does not call for an end to the cruel, hugely costly and ineffective badger cull, he does recognise that badger vaccination could be a viable alternative to culling.”
Chris Sherwood, chief executive of the RSPCA, said: “Our concern is that the focus on blaming badgers has stalled vital research and investment to find more effective solutions that would save the lives of cattle and move away from the current futile killing of badgers.”
Vets slam the government's badger cull in two new open letters Two new open letters signed by vets and animal rights groups have added fresh perspective to growing criticism of the badger cull.
Badger cull cruelty
Vet Record, the British Veterinary Association’s (BVA) official journal, published a letter on 19 October calling for:
the BVA to withdraw its support for any further licensed badger culling
Titled Animal welfare impacts of badger culling operations, it highlights footage released on 30 September. In the video, a badger keeps moving for nearly a minute after being shot. Meanwhile, a cull contractor looks on. The open letter says this breaches “current Natural England best practice”. And it also “raises serious questions” about the capability of contractors in relation to badger welfare.
The letter, signed by vets from wildlife protection group Born Free, goes on to say:
The veterinary profession has no business supporting this licensed mass killing with all its inherent negative welfare and biosecurity implications, and for which the disease control benefits are, at best, extremely uncertain.
And it states that ongoing support for the cull by “veterinary bodies” could damage the profession’s reputation.
“Comprehensive approach”
The BVA responded in a statement published alongside Animal welfare impacts on badger culling operations. While refusing to comment on the video, senior vice president John Fishwick says the body hasn’t “shied away from challenging practice in the past”. He also points out the BVA’s concern for trapped badgers during the summer heat.
The response says the:
BVA supports a comprehensive approach to tackling bTB that should include control measures in cattle alongside simultaneous and coordinated measures in badgers, other wildlife and susceptible farmed species.
Fishwick goes on to say the body’s approach is based on evidence and epidemiology. He also says the BVA believes the “the methods used in badger cull areas must be humane”. But the response doesn’t comment directly on claims of the cull’s “uncertain” effects on controlling bovine tuberculosis (bTB).
Meanwhile, another open letter tackled exactly this issue.
Misleading figures
In a letter published by the Network for Animals on 20 October, another group called for the government to withdraw claims about the badger cull.
On 13 September, DEFRA announced success in two cull pilot areas. It said zones in Gloucestershire and Somerset showed reductions in new bTB outbreaks amongst cattle. But doubts were quickly raised by the Wildlife Trusts and by Rosie Woodroffe from the Zoological Society of London, as The Canary previously reported.
Now, a group of senior vets have detailed concerns about the government’s figures. The letter points to the difference between ‘incidence’ and ‘prevalence’. The former is what DEFRA’s September claim is based on. But the letter says:
Greater clarity [on bTB control] can be obtained by focusing on prevalence rather than incidence.
The cull’s impact appears different when looking at prevalence. In the three years leading up to the start of the pilots, the letter says, bTB prevalence fell in both areas. Once culling began, however, prevalence remained stable. It goes on to say:
Put simply, there are approximately the same proportion of bTB affected herds now, as there were before culling started. Badger culling has not resulted in a decrease in bTB in cattle in cull zones, for the prevalence remains unchanged.
In addition, the letter airs concerns that DEFRA hasn’t made its data public and calls for the government to release this information.
Change
The 2018 badger cull is expected to kill up to 40,000 badgers. As in previous years, it has been the target of direct action by saboteurs. This year, though, has resulted in heavy-handed law enforcement. In early October, three people from Liverpool Hunt Saboteurs faced armed response while taking action in Cheshire. And in late September, Devon and Cornwall Police said drones could be used to monitor activists.
Evidence is catching up to the strength of passion from campaigners and activists. Blatant animal cruelty is bringing the cull to the doorstep of the country’s top veterinary body. The government’s massaged numbers are losing credibility. And experts are starting to ask if it’s human bad practice rather than uncontrolled wildlife that’s to blame.
For Britain’s badger, change can’t come soon enough.
Minister’s claim badger cull cuts cattle TB is attacked by experts Jamie DowardSun 21 Oct 2018 06.00 BST George Eustice’s boast that government strategy is working called untrue by vets and animal specialists
Government claims that the controversial badger cull is reducing tuberculosis rates in cattle have been undermined by a group of leading vets and animal welfare experts who have shared data that, they say, confirms it has made no difference.
Last month the farming minister George Eustice said: “Reductions in TB cases in Somerset and Gloucestershire are evidence that our strategy is delivering results.” But the group, which includes Iain McGill, the former government vet who helped expose the BSE cover-up, Adam Grogan, head of wildlife at the RSPCA, and Mark Jones, head of policy at the Born Free Foundation, disagrees.
In a letter, published in edited form in today’s Observer, and in full on the Network For Animals website, they are among 15 signatories who claim that “when ministerial statements are used as justification for the slaughter of badgers on an industrial scale ... it is vital that they ... reflect the best available veterinary and scientific advice”.
The agriculture ministry’s claims are based on the “incidence rate” – calculated by examining the number of new cases of TB in cattle herds. However, the signatories claim this approach, using “complex and sometimes obscure calculations”, is wrong. They suggest the focus should be on the percentage of cattle herds in badger culling zones which have the disease at a specific point in time.
Their letter states: “Examination of that data ... demonstrates no reduction in the prevalence of bTB (bovine TB) infected herds in Gloucestershire or Somerset as a result of culling.”
It continues: “The prevalence in cattle is no lower than it was before culling, despite the killing and removal of 1,879 badgers in Gloucestershire and 1,777 in Somerset. A total of 3,656 badgers have been killed with no perceivable disease control benefits.”
There is now public disquiet at the violence and animal suffering associated with the badger cull In Gloucestershire the prevalence of the disease fell to 6.9% in the three years running up to the cull before plateauing at 7.1% after four years of culling. In Somerset it fell successively for the three years up to the cull to 6.1%, before rising to 7.2% after four years of culling.
“There are approximately the same proportion of bTB affected herds now as there were before culling started,” the signatories claim. “Badger culling has not resulted in a decrease in bTB in cattle in cull zones ... Any statement made to the contrary is untrue.”
The Zoological Society of London claims there is “no robust evidence that England’s policy of mass culling” is reducing TB in cattle. The signatories call on Eustice to withdraw his statement. “When proven harm is committed to animals on a very large scale, accompanied by documented animal abuse and ... unaccompanied by any disease control benefits, the only option for any responsible government is to abandon the policy immediately,” they write.
Sally
8 Oct 2018, 8:19 PM
The Oxford mafia exposed
By August 2016, as more badger killing was announced, I began to realise the awful truth. The badger protection movement, with the exception of a handful of informed people had joined with the ISG scientists to uphold ‘the ISG science’, unreliably based upon badgers giving bTB to cattle with significant frequency. They were supported by a number of Oxford University academics although I noted this was on more general terms than the ISG specifics. Speaking out were some who were behind the scenes in setting up the 1997 Krebs review and the RBCT in the first place. On checking and double checking, many closest to the issue either did not want to accept my analysis or even to talk about it, which just seemed suspicious. Some wanted it covered up for tactical reasons. The phrase ’reputational damage’ was used more than once.
Farmers need a better understanding of TB By Matthew Limb
Many farmers’ understanding of bovine TB is so poor it is ‘frightening’, according to the lead vet for a scheme supporting efforts to eradicate the disease in Wales.
Katie Rose, who leads the Cymorth TB programme for the APHA in Wales, said farmers were ‘blaming badgers for everything that happens on their farms’ when they should be doing more to improve biosecurity and disease control.
Rose was speaking last week at the Official Veterinarian (OV) conference in Swindon.
Her comments came as the Welsh government rejected a call by the Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) for proactive badger culling in an Intensive Action Area (IAA) in Wales to be reinstated.
Sally
28 Sep 2018, 5:45 PM
PBD Biotech have developed a new faster and more accurate way of testing cattle for TB. Badgers not to blame for bTB.
But Dr Berwyn Clarke, chief executive of start-up firm PBD Biotech, based at Thurston, near Bury St Edmunds, believes the issue is not the badger - which has been the subject of a controversial government-organised cull over the last few years - but rather that the disease lies undiscovered in herds until it’s too late, because of the lack of a reliable test for it.
Or at least until now. Dr Clarke and a team at Nottingham university have worked on transforming a much older human diagnostic technology into a product which can be used on livestock and come up with a fast and accurate test result.
See forum post on 'Skin Test' for more info.
Sally
14 Sep 2018, 5:45 PM
Flawed badger cull expands across England
The Wildlife Trusts call on government: invest in medicine not marksmen
The government has given permission for badger culls to go ahead in England for another year. Badgers are now at risk in 11 new badger cull zones, in addition to the existing areas of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Cornwall, Devon, Herefordshire, Cheshire and Wiltshire.
The Wildlife Trusts believe that the government’s strategy is flawed because bTB is primarily a cattle problem, not a wildlife one [1] and makes no sense at a time when a review of the government strategy which drives the culls – the bovine TB eradication strategy – is still underway [2]. Only 1 in 20 cases of bTB herd infections are transmitted directly from badgers [1], thus, culling badgers is not the answer and it is also counterproductive. Culling disrupts badgers’ social structure, causing them to move around more frequently and over longer distances – which can result in increased bTB transmission.
The Wildlife Trusts have opposed badger culling for well over a decade and most recently have written to Secretary of State, Michael Gove, to highlight the flaws of the badger cull and request that the cull be ended in favour of strategic and widespread badger vaccination schemes, and to invest in developing a cattle vaccine. Yet again, this has not happened.
Ellie Brodie, Senior Policy Manager, The Wildlife Trusts says:
“It is unacceptable that the government has not waited for the results of their own review – which we understand is to be published imminently – before forging ahead with another year of ineffective and expensive badger culling. The badger cull is a dangerous distraction from addressing the main route of bTB transmission in cattle which is between cattle. [1]
“The Wildlife Trusts have been involved in this debate for over ten years. In 2008 we successfully persuaded the Labour Government not to go ahead with a badger cull. In 2012 we helped stop the initial badger cull pilot in Somerset and Gloucestershire. Simultaneously, we have led the way in demonstrating that badger vaccination would be a far more effective route, accompanied with strict biosecurity controls, movement controls and robust cattle testing regimes.
“We’re calling on the government to invest in medicine, not marksmen. The costs of killing badgers are much higher than vaccinating them – it costs £496.51 to kill a badger compared with £82 to vaccinate a badger” [3,4].
Research has found that bTB bacteria can survive for months either on fields or in slurry [5]. Strict biosecurity procedures are key to tackle this key route of the spread of bTB. Defra should provide as much support as possible to farmers to make sure these procedures and rigorous tests are in place. This approach would contribute considerably to reducing the spread of bTB between cattle and badgers.
bTB can have a devastating impact on the lives of farmers. The Wildlife Trusts continue to work with farmers to find solutions that work for everyone. Badger vaccination is cost-effective, and it works. It reduces the incidence, severity and long-term vulnerability of badger groups to the disease [6]. If government strategy must focus on badgers, this approach offers a far more effective, cheaper and low-risk way to reduce bTB in badger populations.
The government has promised to leave the environment in a better state for the next generation. Continuing and expanding the badger cull runs counter to this promise and risks pushing one of our protected native species to the verge of local extinction.
The Wildlife Trusts call on the government to:
Halt the badger cull now. Invest in and promote a strategy for badger vaccination. This should be led and funded by the government, across England. Invest more time and resource in further research into farm biosecurity and movement controls. We need to know what works. Accelerate development of more effective tests for bTB in cattle and put serious investment into a bTB cattle vaccine. This is a cattle problem, not a wildlife problem. The Wildlife Trusts are urging people to write to their MPs asking them to help stop the cull.
[2] Charles Godfray was asked by Defra to chair the bovine tuberculosis (bTB) Strategy review. The aim of this review is to “reflect on progress being made with implementation of the bTB Strategy and consider how to take the Strategy to the next phase.” The review began in March and is due to be completed by the end of September 2018.
[3] The cost per badger of vaccination by Wildlife Trusts was calculated using data from 2015 which is the most recent data available. Wildlife Trusts vaccinated 949 badgers, which cost a total of £78,042.25. Cost per dose is £82
[4] The cost of the cull per badger in England was calculated using figures from the badger cull in 2016. Figures for costs to government and the police† was divided by the number of badgers culled††. This gives a cost per badger of £496.51.
[6] Chambers, M.A., Carter, S.P., Wilson, G.J., Jones, G., Brown, E., Hewinson, R.G. & Vordermeier, M., 2014. Vaccination against tuberculosis in badgers and cattle: an overview of the challenges, developments and current research priorities in Great Britain. Veterinary Record, 175: 90-96.
Sally
16 Aug 2018, 10:02 AM
UK BADGERS NOW SET TO BE REDUCED BY A MASSIVE 30%
Badger Cull Ecological Impacts Legal Challenges • Badger Crowd vows to fight on as challenges dismissed. • Natural England breached Habitats Regulation Duty but High Court fails to quash Badger Cull licences. • Supplementary Culling set to continue in 2018. • Appeal of judgements under active consideration.
In a disappointing High Court ruling, Judge Sir Ross Cranston has determined that under Section 31(2A) of the Senior Courts Act 1981, badger cull licences need not be quashed. This is despite acknowledging that government quango Natural England has not correctly recorded badger culling impact assessments near to badger culling areas for several years.
In the run up to the July Hearings, Natural England made a surprise declaration that even though they do not believe that carnivore release effects are significant in England, they have adequate bird monitoring systems across England to detect carnivore community disruption in protected ecosystems affected by badger culling and will react to any findings. No details were provided but the judge found ‘comfort’ in Natural England’s promises.
On the challenge to Supplementary Culling, which is the decision to keep on culling badgers permanently if necessary after four years of intensive culling, the judgement was that the consultation starting December 2016 was not unfair. It was found to be acceptable for Defra not to make public disclosure of discounted alternative approaches, including the original and previously adhered to RBCT-based ‘cull and stop’ over nine years approach. Defra’s stated view was that past expert science analysis was ‘obsolete’ in favour of a new objective of ‘a numbers game’; simply to try to keep badger numbers reduced at or around 30% of the original population ‘guesstimates’ and until bovine TB has been eradicated.
Claimant Tom Langton acting for the Badger Crowd, a large and growing group of badger supporters and members of the pubic taking legal action against badger culling said: ‘’Aspects of the rulings seem unclear and our lawyers are looking closely at Grounds for Appeal, hence our comment is limited at this stage. In the past, these difficult cases (such as that taken in Wales) have only been won on Appeal. We owe this to badgers, wildlife, farmers and it is in the interests of healthy livestock. Our countryside deserves protection and competent management. The government appears to be able to develop policy in private with selected industry stakeholders. It has authority on scientific matters and is apparently entitled to choose science or a lack of it to fit the policy of the moment. Key warnings by leading experts have been sidestepped and approaches seem to match the aims of economic expedience rather than any real attempt to halt the misery of the cattle tuberculosis epidemic in England.
Natural England will now have to disclose details of their monitoring system for the various nature reserves in and around cull areas in England. Details of the recently announced specially planned bird monitoring programmes now underway for all badger cull areas containing protected sites will be of very wide public interest.
We still have under consideration our challenge of the 2017 badger culling licences relating to damage to Sites of Special Scientific Interest under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. We have also initiated a challenge against the May 2018 Policy plans for a new kind of approach based upon reactive badger culling in the Low Risk Area of East England that in the past has been shown to make Bovine TB worse. This is another disaster in the making.
We would like to thank again everyone who has donated generously to get to this stage and to reassure them that we will continue to fight in the courts and using all lawful means to bring badger culling to an end in England so that the key causes of Bovine TB spread can be properly attacked.’’ Further Information
The Badger Crowd is a support and fundraising coalition including Badger Groups and Trusts around the UK, the wildlife charity Born Free and hundreds of individuals via crowd funding appeals. Many generous private donations have been made and particular thanks are due to Badger Trust Sussex and The Badger Trust.
Ecologist Tom Langton has fronted challenges with support from ‘The Badger Crowd’. His legal team is Richard Turney and Ben Fullbrook from Landmark Chambers (London) and solicitor Lisa Foster of Richard Buxton Environmental and Public Law (Cambridge). Dominic Woodfield of the ecological consultancy Bioscan UK is a key witness concerning ecological impacts.
The Badger Crowd believes that legal challenges are an important fight, not just for the badger but also for the future of our countryside and the farming industry. The badger cull policy is failing farmers, tax payers and our precious wildlife and will make the bTB epidemic worse.
Sally
8 Aug 2018, 5:58 PM
The ‘remarkable’ number of foxhounds reportedly killed because of bovine TB has just quadrupled
Nearly 100 foxhounds from a single hunt have been killed because of bovine tuberculosis (bTB), a recently published study reveals. This is four times more than originally confirmed by the Kimblewick Hunt. And this news arrives around the time badger culling normally begins.
97 dead hounds
Researchers from the University of Edinburgh published An outbreak of tuberculosis due to Mycobacterium bovis infection in a pack of English Foxhounds on 31 July. It investigates the Kimblewick Hunt, whose hounds were killed following an outbreak of bTB in December 2016.
The story originally broke in March 2017. At the time, “about 25 hounds” were put down, the Kimblewick Hunt claimed. But the recently released University of Edinburgh report confirms [paywall] 97 hounds were killed.
In December 2017 a report [pdf, p32] was prepared by Prof Stephen Harris and Dr Jo Dorning. In the UK bTB is rarely recorded in dogs. Only eight cases were diagnosed in dogs from 1993 to 2009 … and these were invariably isolated cases… Thus the number of hounds infected with bTB at the Kimblewick Hunt is particular remarkable.
The actual figure, therefore, comes as a bombshell.
While the report suggested [pdf, p43] an “infected carcase” fed to the hounds might be the source of bTB infection among the Kimblewick Hunt’s hounds, the University of Edinburgh report is less clear. It says:
The likelihood of feeding infected material to the hounds at this kennel was consequently assessed as low, but with a medium level of uncertainty regarding prevalence of carcase infection and dose–response in dogs.
The report also looks at three other possible routes of infection. Exposure to livestock or wildlife with bTB while outside the kennels; infected wildlife entering the kennels; and already infected hounds entering the kennels. The first two routes are unlikely. The latter was most likely due to a number of dogs from other kennels located in high-risk bTB areas entering the Kimblewick Hunt’s kennels.
The researchers also highlighted kennel conditions as a major factor. Overcrowding of hounds allowed “an ideal opportunity” for bTB to break out. This high density may also have stressed the animals, making them more liable for infection. And kennel buildings in “sub-optimal” states of repair meant proper disinfection was impossible.
The investigation also discovered that one human had subsequently contracted latent TB.
Hunts, the invisible vector?
Infection of bTB in hunting hounds is significant because they have received sparse attention as a transmitter of the disease. While the government’s preferred strategy of culling badgers continues to expand, the Kimblewick Hunt hounds show that other factors are at work.
At the time of infection, there were 35 known cases of bTB amongst cattle herds in the area covered by the Kimblewick Hunt. Just four months later, in April 2017, there were 90.
Harris and Dorning’s report lays out a number of risks posed by infected hunting hounds. These include the animals travelling through farms and farmland during a day’s hunting. Hunting hounds also have lower veterinary standards than domestic dogs. These and other risks mean hunts haven’t received proper scrutiny in their role as possible spreaders of bTB.
Sally
6 Aug 2018, 2:59 PM
Letter sent by Martin Hancox.
Dear Michael Gove , Prof Charles Godfray , ben.goldsmith@menhaden.com
Badgers have historically been blamed for ""The spread of cattle TB " under three very simple key mistaken headings :-
1 . half the breakdowns in the last southwest hotspots were unconfirmed breakdowns , caused by bought-in newly infected reactors which DID catch TB in the previous breakdown. Zuckerman 1980 wrongly assumed these No Visible Lesion NVL/Unconfirmeds did NOT have TB, so a bit illogically must have caught it from a mythical self-sustaining reservoir of badger TB. But the few and only TB badgers "out there" have merely caught TB from cows, and occur as a dead-end spillover , which are never going to be infectious enough to pass TB back to cows. Just 1515 TB badgers out of 11,000 culled from 1900 sq.km. in RBCT. The LRA licensing consultation found only 1 of the 21 potential badger hotspots , 2004-2017 had any TB badgers, just 5 out of 35 in the Shap/Cumbria Irish bought-in study. SO, badgers have never been the actual cause of this scatter of new herd breakdowns after all.
2. Particularly damaging is the Rosie Woodroffe/ ISG model which misinterprets the RBCT data in claiming a halving of cattle TB, despite an initial "Badger cull Perturbation effect" in the buffer ring outside proactive cull areas . The actual cull of 1515 TB badgers had ZERO effect on cattle TB. Halving TB was simply via 5-7 years of normal cattle controls. And although it has been published in a couple of dozen peer reviewed top journals, there WAS NO Cull to perturb the badgers in the outside buffer ring. The Tripling in cattle TB in all 60 RBCT trial areas (30 + 30 buffers) was simply the accumulated reactors, from 2001 foot & mouth with no cattle testing. Ditto in Wales and Ulster with no badger culls, no perturbation rise in Eire as they did not suspend testing ! Very clear in the new Moustakas cattle TB model paper DOI:10.1038/s41467-018-04915-0 (very simple link via TB Free below, and in above Ceasefire 30 Scientists opposed cull 12 Oct 2012 observer).
3. Wales , still c 60 herds with chronic TB . The hilariously silly "licensed badger cull for chronic herds", cost £380,000 and yielded just 5 TB badgers from the 3 farms sampled 2017 . So Glossop has painfully and expensively re-discovered that badgers are not the problem. The Devon Gatscombe herd went clear after 5 years restriction, using the new IDEXX Ab and Actiphage tests, to remove the skin test non-reactor culprit cow. No badger cull needed, and although c. 25 % of badgers caught TB from this chronic herd, they did not immediately reinfect the herd either.
SO, despite the 47 year old "highly complex and emotive debate " , badgers have never been the actual problem in the first place ; merely innocent bystanders . So culls must be unlawful under the 1992 Badgers Act, since they have 0 effect on the spread of cattle TB by cattle , in DEFRA/APHA's own Report 2017. sincerely, Martin Hancox Death of Debate www.badgersandtb.com https://Bit.ly/20JSGpR Ecologist Alas poor brock
VERY USEFUL LINKS via Facebook below... the farcical wales cull, Moustakas, Mark Jones Vet Rec supplementary culls, and TB in hounds , both Kimberball & Ireland. TB Free England - Home
4 mins · Judgement is due in August, yet our cynical Government appears to have already started culling again...
Sally
26 Jul 2018, 4:26 PM
French government scientists have published evidence that foxes can carry and transmit bovine TB - yes we knew that - any mammal can! So, is it sensible to allow hunting to continue? Probably not. My own experience talking to a hunter last year revealed he had brought his hounds out to hunt despite have a TB breakdown in his herd. I passed this info to the WAG but they were not interested and said little could be done!
Apparently earlier this year Kimblewick Hunt culled 25 of its hounds after an outbreak of TB!
Sally
26 Jul 2018, 4:18 PM
Government advisers are being accused of allowing caged badgers to die of thirst or heat stroke as a badger cull is undwerway in this week’s record temperatures.
Campaigners are stepping up pressure on environment secretary Michael Gove to cancel licences extending the cull into new areas, because of the heatwave.
They fear that animals trapped during the official cull across hundreds of acres of countryside are being left for hours on end in the sun, with no water.
With temperatures having reached up to 33C in some areas of England, wildlife activists believe Natural England, the government advisory body that issues cull licences, is failing to enforce its own guidelines on the cull, which say marksmen must suspend trapping if animals would be exposed to extremes of weather.
The Badger Trust has written to Natural England chiefs calling for an immediate halt to trapping, saying that in temperatures of 30c or more it is inhumane.
“This is a serious animal-welfare issue. We are likely to see hundreds of badgers trapped in cages in blazing hot sunshine with no access to water or shade – it’s horrendous,” said Dominic Dyer, head of the Badger Trust. “The supplementary cull licences should be revoked.”
Sally
26 Jul 2018, 4:18 PM
Government advisers are being accused of allowing caged badgers to die of thirst or heat stroke as a badger cull is undwerway in this week’s record temperatures.
Campaigners are stepping up pressure on environment secretary Michael Gove to cancel licences extending the cull into new areas, because of the heatwave.
They fear that animals trapped during the official cull across hundreds of acres of countryside are being left for hours on end in the sun, with no water.
With temperatures having reached up to 33C in some areas of England, wildlife activists believe Natural England, the government advisory body that issues cull licences, is failing to enforce its own guidelines on the cull, which say marksmen must suspend trapping if animals would be exposed to extremes of weather.
The Badger Trust has written to Natural England chiefs calling for an immediate halt to trapping, saying that in temperatures of 30c or more it is inhumane.
“This is a serious animal-welfare issue. We are likely to see hundreds of badgers trapped in cages in blazing hot sunshine with no access to water or shade – it’s horrendous,” said Dominic Dyer, head of the Badger Trust. “The supplementary cull licences should be revoked.”
Sally
17 Jul 2018, 5:49 PM
Badger Trust calls for immediate halt to badger culling in heat wave
The Badger Trust has written to Natural England calling for an immediate halt to the badger culls across England due to the heat wave.
The severe and prolonged hot weather which is leading to record breaking temperatures across many parts of the country is having a devastating impact on badgers. Multiple reports are being received by the Badger Trust, RSPCA and wildlife rescue centres across the country of badger cubs being severely underweight and subject to heat exposure and exhaustion due to lack of water.
Badgers rely on worms and insects for the bulk of their diet, but as a result of the heat wave, the ground is now so hard in many parts of the country that it is becoming impossible for them to feed.
The situation is being made worse as a result of the expansion of the badger cull policy, which is now allowing badgers to be killed in 21 areas of England, with a further 10 cull licences being considered for approval by Natural England by the end of August.
This could result in over 50,000 badgers being killed by the end of 2018, at a time when their numbers have already been devastated by the summer heat wave. Many of the badgers to be killed this summer will be trapped in cages in extremely hot temperatures and left for up to 12 hours with no access to water, which is extremely cruel.
Dominic Dyer CEO of the Badger Trust said:
"As a result of the devastating heat wave and huge expansion of culling, badgers are now facing a catastrophic decline, which could result in local extinction from areas of the country which they have inhabited since the Ice Age. As we learned from the Judicial Review case against the badger cull policy in the High Court last week, the Government's badger population estimates are unacceptably vague and take no account of the impact of the current prolonged high temperatures.
Many of the badger cubs born this year and older badgers will not be able to make up sufficient body weight to survive the oncoming of winter. Taking this into account there can be no justification for allowing the continuation of badger culling in the heat wave, which could deplete their populations to such a level that the UK ends up in breach of its commitments under the Berne Convention.” Tris Pearce an ecologist and Board Member of the Badger Trust said:
"Under their best practice guidelines for badger trapping, Natural England state that operators have a legal responsibility under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 not to cause unnecessary suffering to any animal under the control of man and that the trapping of wild badgers should be suspended due to exposure to low temperatures, wind chill and heavy rain in combination.
However, no provision is made for extreme high temperatures, which could result in thousands of badgers being trapped in the current heat wave in small metal cages for up to 12 hours, with minimal food and no access to water. We received reports of badger cages being found in the West Gloucestershire badger control area on 11th July, with temperatures in that region reaching 29 degrees centigrade.
With the Environment Agency stating last week that it will take many weeks of persistent rainfall to attempt to recover what the dry period has caused, Natural England should revoke all badger control licences during the heatwave on animal welfare grounds."
Sally
16 Jul 2018, 6:32 PM
This blog is well worth reading. Some revealing facts about Natural England.
