Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Badger cull is not going to help England's bovine TB problem

Organized badger culling started in England back in 2013 in an attempt to control the extent of bovine TB among cattle herds. The theory was that badgers were spreading the disease, and so getting rid of badgers was considered the country's best "shot" at getting rid of the disease among cattle. About 4,000 badgers have been killed in Gloucestershire, Somerset and Dorset since 2013 (in addition to the 50,000 or so that are killed on Britain's roads every year), at an estimated cost of over £7,000 per animal. Now the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) wants to extend the contentious program to Devon, Cornwall and Herefordshire.
Unfortunately, the program is not based on good science, and so has not been very effective. It turns out that only about 6% of bovine TB cases can be attributed to badgers; the vast majority come from cattle-to-cattle transmissions. Logic suggests that a vaccine for cattle should therefore be a priority. But Defra remain undaunted, and convinced that badger culls are the way to go.
England apparently has the highest rate of bovine TB in Europe, resulting in thousands of cattle being slaughtered every year. Clearly, it is major problem. But killing badgers is, just as clearly, not the solution, and pouring good money after bad has never been an effective strategy.

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