Defra has announced that work is underway on the first national badger survey since the 1990s. Defra said the survey of badgers, which it hopes will give an accurate estimate of the animals’ numbers in the wild, will go some way towards addressing its obligations under the Bern Convention.

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The government could incur penalties for violating the convention if it goes ahead with two proposed badger culls in England, as the animals are a protected species. Defra is expected to make an announcement on plans to kill badgers, which are thought to contribute to the spread of bovine TB.    

The last National Badger Survey of Great Britain, from 1997, which was a follow-up to an earlier study conducted in the 1980s, appeared to show that in the intervening years badger numbers had increased. Defra claims there is reason to believe that badger numbers have continued to grow since then.  

However, Badger Trust spokesperson Jack Reedy questioned this assertion. He said the methodologies adopted in the past two surveys differed and, as such, advised caution when inferring changes in badger population from direct comparison between the two. Mr Reedy speculated that population growth in badgers since 1997 would be unlikely.

He commented “The Badger Trust, which bases its activities on science, would support any scheme that was well-designed to produce results directly comparable to earlier work so that any conclusions were valid. However, the relationship between population density and disease levels, particularly with bovine TB, is very hard to quantify.”

Defra said the badger survey would run until 2013, using 1,700 1sq km areas it claimed were representative samples of landscape types in England and Wales. Defra said professional surveyors would work over the autumn, winter and spring to map all badger setts in the sample areas.

Last month, farming minister Jim Paice announced that a decision on whether a cull would go ahead would be made before Christmas. Yesterday, the Welsh government, which had made a similar promise, came under fire from cull supporters in parliament for “stalling” after Wales’ first minister admitted no announcement would be made until early next year.

Last year in Wales, plans for a cull were brought to a grinding halt as a legal challenge saw a judge ruling that a cull would not have enough of an impact on bTB incidences to be legally permissible.

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