Two scientists whose work was instrumental in the ten year Randomised Badger Culling Trial, which forms the basis for much of the government’s evidence supporting current cull plans, have expressed misgivings over the aspects of those proposals.

Christl Donnelly of Imperial College, London and Rosie Woodroffe of the Institute of Zoology, who both worked on the RBCT under the previous government, published a letter in scientific journal Nature today arguing that, given the lack of knowledge of existing badger populations in the UK, carrying out an effective cull will prove impossible.

Based on Defra’s documentation, culls must eradicate at least 70 per cent of badgers within a cull area to have the desired effect on TB breakdowns, but must not result in local extinctions. However, as badger numbers have not been accurately accounted for, the scientists argued that those carrying out a cull will not know when to stop killing.

If too few badgers are killed, the perturbation effect may be more severe (fleeing badgers may cause an increase in infections in surrounding areas), whereas if too many are killed cull groups risk breaking the Bern convention, under which badgers are a protected species.

The scientists warned that in many areas of the UK, badger numbers are only approximations based on estimates, whereas in others where more in-depth surveillance work has occurred, there remain methodological problems with the information gathered. They said more accurate measuring would add many thousands of pounds to the cost of culling.

The proposed culls form part of the government’s strategy to combat bovine TB. However, although the government and farming unions maintain that only culling will bring TB under control, the issue remains subject to much controversy; cull opponents argue that trial culls, set to go ahead in Somerset and Gloucestershire later this year, will prove to be inhumane, ineffective and prohibitively expensive.

The policy was successfully challenged in April by the Badger Trust and will be subject to High Court Review between 25th and 26th June.  

In Wales, the Assembly government had planned to instigate a cull in the Intensive Action Area, where bTB infection is most severe. Following a review of related evidence, the Welsh government announced in March that it would be abandoning cull plans brought in under the previous government and instead focusing on a vaccination programme and cattle measures. Farming unions and opposition politicians have accused the government of making a decision based on politics rather than science following the announcement.

According to government data released this month 6,253 cattle were slaughtered in the UK as reactors or direct contacts between January and February this year. The number of incidents fell slightly compared to the same period last year.

In response to the scientists’ misgivings, a Defra spokesperson told Farming Online, “Any culling operations will be tightly controlled, not least so we can be confident that there would be no local disappearance of badgers. A minimum and maximum number of badgers that may be removed from the control area each year would be set out in licences granted by Natural England, the government’s advisor on the natural environment. Natural England will calculate these figures using a range of information.”

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