Baby Badgers Beware!

The English have a reputation for fair play, but when it comes to badgers they are as ruthless a Roundhead pursuing the king's men. With the pilot culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire declared  unmitigated failures, one would think the Tory government would turn to vaccination as a method of controlling bovine tuberculosis. It is costing around 3,000£ per badger to shoot them; yet wildlife vaccination programs are often criticized as too expensive and difficult to carry out. But no, now the agricultural lobby behind the culls wants to shoot baby badgers in the coming summer because they are numerous and easier to kill than adults. Animal rights activists say the plan is "appallingly crude and desperate". The National Farmers Union says their permits allow culling to begin any time beginning in June. The permits are good for four years. The Tory government environmental ministry (DEFRA) says cull timing is up to them. England has the highest rate of bovine TB in Europe.

A trial of badger vaccination in Gloucestershire took place between 2006 and 2009. The study population was relatively small (252), studied over a short time and restricted to a 55km area, one of the worse affected areas in England. Also, vaccinated and unvaccinated animals were allowed to mix in the study area, making transmission and exposure opportunities higher, and consequently making sampling error higher. Vaccination does make a positive difference, depending on the methods used to detect infections.The study reported a reduction of infection risk in badgers of 76%-54%. Vaccination is beneficial according to the study's authors in two ways: it indirectly reduces the risk of cub infection through a "herd imunity" effect and directly reducing the TB burden in vaccinated individuals.

Badgers are born underground in February and emerge in April.  Young cubs are naive and easier to catch or shoot, but they are also less likely to carry TB according to badger expert, Rosie Woodroffe. Prof. Woodroffe told the UK's Guardian that an early cull targeting young badgers is more about trying to reach a target number than controlling TB. A landmark study in which she participated found that 12% of adults carry TB but only 8% of the cubs. Conservative politicians are backing the cull program but their coalition partners, Liberal Democrats, oppose starting culls in other parts of the country affected by bovine TB.