Harper Asprey Wildlife Rescue encouraging through knowledge a natural balance

As a wildlife rescue I am sure you would expected us to object to any cull of wildlife just because we should. But that is not the case we will always look at the problem and the scientific solution. We would always read the available data and then decide on the action to take.
We believe a cull at this moment in time is not consistent with the scientific data collected from the governments own study.
Bovine Tb is a serious issue and there are several hotspots in our dairy farming areas. The landscape that dairy cattle thrive on is also perfect for badgers.

Badgers live in tight communities in the UK and have anything up to 15 in a group or clan.

They have strong family bonds. They are intelligent and have long since learnt to fear man and keep as hidden as possible.

From our point of view they are magnificent creatures with striking faces and markings. They are intelligent and resourceful and undoubtedly part of our history and as British as Winston Churchill, the Houses of Parliament and Fish and Chips.

The earliest fossils of badgers date back 250,000 years and one badger sett was recorded in the domes day book.
Most people just see a passing glimpse of a badger at dawn or dusk but for the most part their underground world is a secret one. They feed mostly on pastures and woodlands. Around 90% of their diet consists of earthworms and these earthworms can be found in abundance on open pastures during the night.They are territorial and at the slightest noise will run for the cover of their complex tunnel system and sett. One tunnel was recorded at being over 1km long. We have the privilege to see badgers first hand and they are awesome creatures with strong power front claws that are surprisingly dexterous but can also shift vast amounts of earth in an evening.

Bovine TB or Mycobacterium bois is a slow-growing (16 to 20 hour generation time), aerobic bacterium and the causative agent of tuberculosis in cattle cattle (known as bovine TB). Related to M. tuberculosis—the bacteria which causes tuberculosis humans—M. bovis can also jump the species barrier and cause tuberculosis in humans and that's why we are so concerned.
To a farmer with bovine TB in his herd it means that he cannot transport cattle, that in itself has financial problems, if of course an animal does have TB then they will be destroyed.

So what to about it ...........................
A trial cull was proposed during the conservative government and was put into practice by labour. The “Randomized Badger Culling Trial” was designed, overseen and analyzed by the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB, or ISG and started in 1997 and finished in 2004. It was a large field trial of wide scale (proactive) culling and localized reactive culling and compared with areas which received no badger culling.
The Randomized Badger Culling Trial culled 11,000 badgers, and to put that into a visual pictures, if we laid the badgers head to toe that would cover 8.25km, so a lot of badgers.
300,000 cattle are destroyed each year mainly from mastitis and laminitus only 25,000 of these deaths are attributed to bovine TB. Of this only 9% is attributed to badger TB spread so that means Badger TB contributes to 0.5% of our yearly cattle deaths

In their final report, the ISG concluded:

"Firstly, while badgers are clearly a source of cattle TB, careful evaluation of our own and others’ data indicates that badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to cattle TB control in Britain.
Indeed, some policies under consideration are likely to make matters worse rather than better.

Secondly, weaknesses in cattle testing regimes mean that cattle themselves contribute significantly to the persistence and spread of disease in all areas where TB occurs, and in some parts of Britain are likely to be the main source of infection. Scientific findings indicate that the rising incidence of disease can be reversed, and geographical spread contained, by the rigid application of cattle-based control measures alone."

So let me repeat that important statement..............
"badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to cattle TB control in Britain"

This trial, which took eight years and cost more than £34m, actually showed that badger culling increases BTB infection in cattle in the surrounding areas called perturbation, and achieves only a limited reduction within the areas targeted.

Professor John Bourne, chair of the independent scientific group that was responsible for overseeing the trial, told the government last September that unless we were to wipe out the entire badger population from large areas of the country, "culling would do more harm than good".

(Brain May talking on the proposed Badger Cull in Wales. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8560156.stm)

Bourne has warned that the government has ignored the scientific advice provided by the trial and misinterpreted his committee's unequivocal conclusions. He believes it would be better to concentrate on cattle controls. The trouble with culling is that it is such a blunt tool: there is no reliable test for bTB in a live wild badger, which means that it is not possible simply to kill those that are infected with the disease - all badgers within the infected area must be wiped out to have any affect.

A survey of badgers killed on the roads was published last year and showed that found only one in seven badgers were infected with the bTB and of those a smaller proportion were actually capable of spreading the disease to cattle.

There is a possiblelink between badgers and cattle in the spread of BTB, the evidence suggest that this is not the main cause. deer, voles and rabbits also carry bTB.
The government's own advisory committee has stated that cattle-to-cattle transmission is responsible for 80% of the disease, and that until the government gets to grips with that there is no reason for badger culling.

While Defra refuses to comment on the issue until the consultation period is finished, the fact is that the government is facing an annual increase of 18% in the overall cost of dealing with BTB.
Defra argues that the evidence indicates that badgers are partly to blame, and many vets within the department argue that they are a major part of the problem.
Jim Paice has stated several times ........."But the reality is there's not a country in the world that's got rid of TB without addressing the problem in wildlife,"
This is partly true but what he should say is that there isn't a country in the world that HAS got rid of bTB.

In Africa is areas of high Tb they do not graze cattle or they use cattle strains that are TB resistant. In New Zealand, where over 100,000 possums were killed in the same battle, they found that husbandry and understanding was the major factor in controlling the disease.
The farming unions are saying that they will not cooperate with measures such as the pre-movement testing of cattle, which everyone recognizes is necessary to control BTB, unless the government gives them badger culling. They see it as a trade-off."
But alternatives to badger culling are not popular with farmers, because of the cost. Limiting movement, testing cattle more intensively and quarantining new stock are expensive and inconvenient options.
Well to us it is black and white.....................
Do not cull the badgers, as careful evaluation of all scientific data indicates that badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to cattle TB control in Britain.

Let's hope there is light at the end of the tunnel for the badgers and an agreements can be made that leads towards the halting of the spread of bovine Tb and encompasses all the know contributory factors and is implemented with conviction and support of both sides.