Vaccination programme underway in Somerset
A four-year project to protect badgers against bovine tuberculosis has begun in proposed cull areas in Somerset. The project aims to prove that the method is more effective than culling.
The project was announced by the Badger Trust and is part of a nationwide initiative to offer vaccination opportunities to farmers and landowners. It was announced just days before its appeal hearing was heard in the Court of Appeal against the High Court's decision to allow a pilot badger cull in England.
Chairman of Somerset Badger Group (SBG), Adrian Coward, said group members would be working alongside farmers to vaccinate badgers in an attempt to provide evidence that this method is a better way to combat bovine TB than culling.
Mr Coward said: "We want to take advantage of the recently licensed vaccine to help constructively with the battle against bovine TB. During field trials the vaccine has been proved to be effective in at least 74% of badgers vaccinated. It is the modern, scientific way to conquer the disease and, unlike culling, does not carry the risk of causing infection to spread."
To vaccinate badgers, licensed members and volunteers first place peanuts in open cage traps for several nights to allow the badgers to familiarise themselves with them before the catches are set, which close the cage as badgers enter. Within hours, the trapped badgers are given a health and condition check, vaccinated, marked and released without harm. Farms will be revisited at regular intervals to increase the proportion of badgers vaccinated.
SBG is carrying out the work in association with Secret World Wildlife Rescue of Highbridge, Somerset, supported by the Badger Trust and Network for Animals. Badger group members have already vaccinated badgers on farms in Worcestershire, Derbyshire, Devon, Cornwall, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
The government's planned badger cull is on hold pending the outcome of the Badger Trust's appeal hearing on 11 September.
With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.
