A four-year programme to vaccinate Somerset badgers against bovine TB (bTB) has begun in the counties where trial badger culls are set to take place later this year.

The project is being carried out by local badger groups in Somerset and Gloucestershire as part of a nationwide initiative by badger groups to offer vaccination opportunities to farmers and landowners.

The badger groups, coordinated by the Badger Trust, oppose culling, believing the process will prove inhumane and ineffectual. A number of prominent government scientists and wildlife experts have shared similar concerns, as well as Natural England, the quango responsible for licensing the cull, which submitted a highly critical response to Defra’s proposals during the department’s public consultation on the cull.

Cull opponents also believe Defra’s costing has been misleading and, should the ‘free-shooting’ approach suggested by Defra be deemed inhumane or unsuitable, farmers could find themselves locked into a cull at several times the agreed cost. They believe tighter cattle measures and a vaccination programme would prove more effective.

Adrian Coward, chairman of Somerset Badger Group, which is administering vaccinations in Somerset said, “Our members are delighted to be working alongside farmers. On behalf of the badgers and farmers we want to take advantage of the recently licensed vaccine to help constructively with the battle against bTB. During field trials the vaccine has been proved to be effective in at least 74 per cent 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”.

The group is carrying out the vaccination programme in association with Secret World Wildlife Rescue, based in Somerset. Licensed members and volunteers trap badgers before giving the animals a health and condition check, vaccinating, marking and releasing them. The process is repeated regularly to increase the proportion of badgers vaccinated.

According to the Badger Trust, badger vaccination has been carried out on farms in Worcestershire, Derbyshire, Devon, Cornwall, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire since last October, by licensed members of badger groups who have been field monitored and approved by senior Defra veterinary staff.

However, ahead of the proposed trial culls, fears have arisen that badger persecution is on the increase. The RSPCA has announced it is investigating the deaths of five badgers in Gloucestershire today.

The badger carcasses were discovered by a member of the public near Cheltenham. Anti-cull protestors have said that badgers have been scapegoated in the run-up to the cull and, as a result, illegal killings could increase. Badgers are a protected species and killing  or injuring them is illegal under European and UK law.

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