Nationwide badger TB vaccination scheme

The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will be looking for farmers and veterinary surgeons in a few months to train them in catching badgers in cages and then vaccinating them against bovine tuberculosis.

The vaccination programme is scheduled to begin in mid 2010 and last for a minimum of five years.

According to Defra, the programme will be carried out in six areas of a maximum of 38.6 square miles where the disease most occurs.

Previously only research vaccinations have been done.

Defra now plans to concentrate on vaccination instead of culling to control bovine TB in the country’s badgers.

Farmers generally blame badgers for spreading bovine TB, with Wales, the west and south west being the areas most affected.

Hilary Benn, Secretary for the Environment announced the scheme, which he said is an effective step forward in combating this awful disease.

By November 2009, nearly 40,000 cattle were slaughtered due to TB, making farmers very concerned about the escalation in numbers of infected cattle.

A National Farmers’ Union (NFU) spokesman welcomed the vaccine and its deployment, but said it was not the only answer and it will not halt the spread of TB without also employing other measures in a combined plan.

He also said the legal and trade aspects need to be examined to ensure that farmers will not suffer compared to world and European competitors.

David Williams, Chairman of the Badger Trust a charity which supports the wellbeing of badgers, and contends that the disease is primarily spread by the cattle themselves, said he hopes that badgers will benefit from the vaccine against bovine TB.

Cattle are not being adequately tested for the disease, he added.

The Welsh Assembly Government said last year that it agreed with a widespread badger cull together with other measures.

The Assembly Government will probably give more details of its intentions by the end of March.

The Conservatives say that the government is wasting time, and urge it to order a well aimed cull of infected badgers.

Jim Paice, Shadow agriculture minister totally disagreed with a delay of five years for testing vaccines.

He said that the infection could be nationwide by then and 50,000 cattle may have to be slaughtered annually, at great expense to taxpayers and farmers who will eventually have to pay for it.