A survey into roadkill badgers has sparked concern after tests revealed that a quarter were found to have bovine tuberculosis.
The survey was conducted in the Greater Manchester area by farmer Bill Mellor.
Although he has not had an outbreak of bovine TB within his herd of cattle, Bill set up the survey because of concerns about the spread of the disease northwards through Cheshire.
Mr Mellor told FarmingUK that the findings were a ‘very, very serious concern’.
He said that there needed to be a greater understanding of how the disease was spreading and to do that more needed to be found out about the disease in the badger population.
He questioned why badgers were seen by the public as ‘cuddly’ animals that needed protecting.
"This is a serious zoonotic disease. We’re looking at it for the cattle all the time, we must do more surveys into the wildlife, into the badger population, and if it’s there in the badger population we’ve got to control it."
