Sunday’s Countryfile programme featured a segment on the Badger Cull. Tom Heap interviewed Gloucestershire dairy farmer James Griffiths, who said that badger control has helped to break the cycle of disease on his farm & Professor James Wood, a scientific adviser to Defra, who outlined a new report published earlier this year showing a significant reduction in the number of TB incidents in two cull areas - good evidence the policy is working.

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Picture courtesy BBC

James Griffiths said: “With the help of the badger cull we’ve broken the cycle of the disease. For the first time in years, there was daylight fighting TB.”

However, DEFRA scientific adviser Professor James Wood’s adamant support for the Government’s Brunton report on badger culling’s impact on Tuberculosis, which was conducted earlier this year left viewers upset at the lack of scientific evidence presented during the segment to support his view.

Dominic Dyer of the Badger Trust said that he "... believed cheaper methods are available to curb the disease".

The show’s host Tom Heap concluded: “Even if this latest research does suggest that the cull might be working, it’s very far from the whole answer. But when combined with badger vaccination, better cattle testing and improved biosecurity, there is now some hope that we might be getting on top of this terrible disease.”

In response the government says it has pledged £1m to the newly-launched TB Advisory Service, which will be offering 2,500 farm visits across the high-risk area of the country to offer bespoke advice to farmers on reducing their risk of disease.

Defra say they are also taking action through the 25-year strategy, one of the most rigorous in the world, strengthening movement controls, improving biosecurity, vaccinating badgers when possible and badger control in areas the disease is rife.

A Defra spokesperson said:

“England has the highest incidence of bovine TB (bTB) in Europe and that is why we are taking strong action to deliver our 25-year strategy to beat the disease and protect the livelihoods of our dairy and beef farmers.

“Dealing with the disease is costing the taxpayer more than £100 million each year and in 2016 alone, more than 29,000 cattle had to be slaughtered in England to control the disease, causing devastation and distress for farmers and rural communities.

Our comprehensive strategy includes one of the most rigorous surveillance programmes for bTB in cattle in the world, strengthening movement controls, improving biosecurity on farm and when trading, badger control in areas where bTB is rife and badger vaccination when possible”.