Badgers and their setts are protected under the Protection of Badgers Act , however licensed culling is permitted to prevent the spread of bovine TB. Culling activities are tightly controlled and require a licence from Natural England. You can find information on what the government is doing to control the risk of bovine TB from badgers in England on GOV. There are three types of culling licence: A Badger Disease Control licence is required where culling is to take place for the first time in the High Risk or Edge Area of England, or where Natural England considers that a Supplementary Badger Disease Control licence is not appropriate.
A Supplementary Badger Disease Control licence is required where culling is to take place to prevent the recovery of the badger population following the completion of annual culling that has lasted at least four years under a Badger Disease Control licence. Factsheet Summary of the key findings of the Downs et al. Jo Smith, the chief executive of Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, also condemned the decision.
Culling is an outdated policy that seeks to eradicate protected wildlife rather than addressing the real problem which is the main cause of bovine tuberculosis: cattle-to-cattle infection. When the culls began in , 26, infected cows were prematurely slaughtered in England.
In , 32, cows were slaughtered because of the disease. Vaccinating badgers has been shown to reduce bovine TB in badger populations. They roam farther and visit more fields which, if they are bTB positive, can only worsen the overall situation. It increases the risk of badger-to-cattle and badger-to-badger transmission 6. The opposite of what the cull is supposed to achieve! Badger culling actually increases the risk of badger-to-cattle and badger-to-badger transmission of bTB at is increases the range of the surviving badgers.
Even though badgers are not the major problem in bTB spreading, currently the main alternative to badger culling is badger vaccination. But it needs more funding and farmer and landowner support 7. However, in some places, vaccination and culling are happening in neighbouring areas. Inevitably, it leads to some badgers being vaccinated, released and then killed. A thoroughly pointless exercise. Some experts say that instead of microchips, it would be enough to test cattle more often and act accordingly.
Then, there are trials of a bTB vaccine for cattle. Arguably, it would be the most effective tool and its use would also shift the focus back to cattle farmers and problems in their own herds. As bTB is not a badger disease but primarily a cattle one, the obvious solution is to control its spreading in cattle herds. Veronika is a biologist, nutritionist and researcher. For the last 15 years, she's worked on a number of animal rights campaigns and is a specialist on vegan nutrition, having published a number of health and nutrition materials.
Recently she's also been digging deeper into sustainability issues, uncovering the true cost of foods. She works with major vegan non-profits and lectures at a university.
Designed and built by bopgun. We use cookies to give you a better experience on veganfoodandliving. By continuing to use our site, you are agreeing to the use of cookies as set in our Cookie Policy. Badger culling: Why badgers are scapegoats in the war on bovine tuberculosis. Author: Veronika Charvatova MSc. Read Time: 31st August What is badger culling?
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