Killing badgers aids spread of bovine TB
Today,
Animal Health Minister Ben Bradshaw has
announced the suspension of badger culling in areas geographically close to recent
cattle TB outbreaks on particular premises.
This is because the
Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB which designed, and now monitors, trials that are comparing the effectiveness of different intervention strategies has found that there is a
27% increase in the number of cases of bovine TB (breakdowns) in (reactive)
culling areas compared to the related survey-only areas where no badger culling took place.
It is known that
badgers can carry TB but it appears increasingly likely that any failure to kill all of the badgers in a sett when
culling in an infected area actually aids dispersal of the disease.
Although previously uinmentionable, the roles of
cow-to-cow infections,
farm hygiene and
movements of infected cows between farms in tackling
bovine TB are increasingly having to be considered...