The government has announced it will allow badger culling in the Low Risk Area of England in the event that bovine TB in badgers is linked with infected herds.
Defra has today (24 May) released an update to Parliament on its strategy to eradicate bovine TB (bTB), outlining new measures.
Badger culling in the Low Risk Area (LRA) is expected to be permitted only in very exceptional circumstances where veterinary epidemiologists judge an area to meet the published criteria for a bTB ‘hotspot’.
Announcing the measures, Defra's Farm Minister George Eustice said the move will allow any such outbreaks to be tackled rapidly to prevent bTB from spreading further within the wildlife and cattle populations.
It will also help preserve the LRA’s low incidence status, he said, and will progress the government's stratgy to eradicate bTB in England by 2038.
TB test compensation
In summer 2017, the government consulted on a proposal to pay compensation at 50 per cent of the average market price for any animal brought into a TB breakdown herd which then fails a TB test whilst that breakdown is still ongoing.
This already happens in Wales, and the government has now confirmed that it will apply in England from 1 November 2018.
The proposal is intended to encourage herd owners to take further steps to improve their disease controls in a sensible and proportionate manner.
One way they can do this is to seek accreditation under a scheme based on the standards laid down by the Cattle Health Certification Standards (CHeCS) body.
Herds which are accredited at the time of the breakdown will continue to receive 100 per cent compensation for all compulsorily slaughtered cattle.
HRA surveillance testing
In December 2017, the government confirmed that surveillance testing for most herds in the High Risk Area (HRA) will take place at six monthly intervals to improve early detection and eradication of disease, and to prevent it spreading to new areas.
It has now decided that this change should take effect from early 2020, when the next generation of TB testing contracts with veterinary delivery partners will be put in place.
Mr Eustice said: "The TB strategy review led by Professor Sir Charles Godfray, announced in February, is considering how to take the strategy to the next phase, so we are able to deploy all tools to tackle this terrible disease.
"Currently in their evidence-gathering phase, the reviewers are examining progress with implementation and how we can improve, enhance or accelerate our approach."
