Cornwall badger vaccination shows promise - report

A pilot vaccination project showed a big drop in bovine tuberculosis said a report

Farmer-led badger vaccination work could play a vital role in plans to eradicate bovine tuberculosis (bTB), say researchers.

A four-year pilot vaccination programme showed the percentage of badgers testing positive for bTB in the study area dropped from 16% to 0%, said a report by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), Cornwall Wildlife Trust, and Imperial College London.

A paper in the journal People and Nature said larger-scale assessments were needed to measure how badger vaccination impacts disease rates in cattle.

Tens of thousands of cattle are culled in England every year due to bTB.

'Solution needed'

The team behind the study, including farmers, scientists and conservationists, is calling on the government to support further evaluations of community-led badger vaccination.

Initiated and part-funded by Cornish farmers, the team vaccinated badgers across 12 farms, while working with Imperial College to gather data to address farmers’ questions around the practicality and effectiveness of vaccination.

More badgers were vaccinated per square-kilometre than were caught by nearby culls, said the report, with separate counts from camera traps suggesting that 74% of local badgers received the vaccine.

Blood sampling showed that the proportion of badgers with bTB fell, even though overall badger numbers remained high; and interviews with the participating landowners indicated their keenness to continue vaccination beyond the original four years.

Professor Rosie Woodroffe, project lead and researcher at ZSL’s Institute of Zoology, said: "Bovine tuberculosis can devastate farmers’ livelihoods, and hundreds of thousands of cattle and badgers have been slaughtered for bTB control in recent years.

"Everyone wants to see this disease eradicated.

"Our hope is that this work will help to move bTB control into a place where farmers and wildlife groups can work together towards this shared goal."

Devastating impact 'recognised'

Keith Truscott, founder of the Mid Cornwall Badger Vaccination Farmers Group and senior author on the report, said: "We need a solution to tackle bovine tuberculosis – as a cattle farmer, I’m living with the constant worry that one of our cows might test positive for the disease, so doing nothing is not an option.

"I sleep better at night knowing that there are people out there working to eradicate the disease through vaccination."

A spokesperson for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: "We recognise the devastating impact bovine TB has on the farming community, which is why we are committed to working with farmers and scientists on measures to eradicate this disease.

"This government will roll out a TB eradication package, including vaccination, herd management and biosecurity measures, to protect farmers’ livelihoods and end the badger cull."