Badger cull is underway

The National Farmers Union today announced that pilot badger culls have started to help bring bovine TB under control.

Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease of cattle. The scale of infection and the cost make bovine TB one of the biggest challenges that the cattle farming industry faces, particularly in the west and south west of England.

These culls are being carried out in Gloucestershire and Somerset, which are TB hotspot areas, by trained professionals.

Over 28,000 cattle were slaughtered in England in 2012 due to bovine TB, and the disease is continuing to spread across England. New herd incidents in Great Britain have risen from 1,075 in 1996 to 5,171 in 2012. In 2012, 6,919 herds were under restrictions due to bovine TB.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said: "Bovine TB is an infectious disease that is spreading across the country and devastating our cattle and dairy industries.

"We know that despite the strict controls we already have in place, we won’t get on top of this terrible disease until we start dealing with the infection in badgers as well as in cattle. That’s the clear lesson from Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland and the USA.

"That is why these pilot culls are so important. We have to use every tool in the box because TB is so difficult to eradicate and it is spreading rapidly.

"If we had a workable vaccine we would use it. A badger vaccine would have no effect on the high proportion of sick badgers in TB hotspots who would continue to spread the disease. We are working on new badger and cattle vaccines but they are years away from being ready and we cannot afford to wait while TB gets worse."

The risk to public health is very low these days. This is largely due milk pasteurisation and the early identification of cattle with TB on farms and at abattoirs.