Date published: 2007/05/14
The BBC says:
A new report claims the "virtual extermination" of badgers in the Republic of Ireland has failed to stop the spread of bovine TB.
Although so many badgers have been killed that they are extinct in many areas, the level of TB in cattle is twice as high as in Britain, it says.
The study comes from Badgerwatch Ireland and the UK Badger Trust.
It has been released just before the British government receives an advisory report considering a similar cull.
...
The farming industry and many vets are adamant that badgers help spread the disease among cattle.They would like to see a targeted cull aimed at infected populations of badgers, in "hotspot" areas including parts of South West England and in Wales.
The UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) says the government will assess the science, including data from the Irish experience, before deciding on the most appropriate solution to tackle bovine TB.
It is due to receive recommendations from the Independent Science Group on Cattle TB this summer.
Badgerwatch Ireland and the UK Badger Trust have reviewed documents relating to the systematic destruction of badgers in the so-called Four Areas Project which operated in Cork, Monaghan, Donegal and Kilkenny from 1997 to 2002.
The project compared proactive and reactive culling of badgers in outbreak areas to try to determine which approach would have the greatest impact on the incidence of TB in cattle.
A review of the project for Defra found it to be the "best evidence yet of the fact of badgers contributing to bovine TB in cattle"; and the National Farmers' Union highlights data in the project which it says shows effective badger control reduced cases of TB in cattle by up to 96%.
But the two conservation groups concentrate on what they regard as flaws in the project - and in the Irish Republic's current control methods.
...
The groups believe their assessment supports the view that bovine TB in Ireland is largely spread by cattle. They say the disease rocketed in Ireland when pre-movement TB testing for cattle was abandoned in 1996.
Unfortunately, the organisations behind this report obviously have an axe to grind (they don't want badgers killed), which means their conclusions have to be taken with a pinch of salt. But hopefully the government will get some independent advice (if it can find anyone who is independent) to look at the Irish approach, and if indeed there is reasonable evidence that the cull has proven to be pointless, then hopefully the UK will not continue down the same road.
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