DEFRA update on measures to tackle Bovine TB
The devastating problems caused by bovine TB are to be tackled by a package of measures which include controlled culling of badgers as part of a science-led and carefully managed badger control policy. The policy is expected to be piloted initially in two areas in early Autumn next year, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman confirmed today.
Nearly 25,000 cattle were slaughtered in England last year alone because of bovine TB, with the cost to the taxpayer set to top £1 billion over the next ten years. The problem is particularly bad in west and south-west England, where nearly a quarter of all cattle farms were affected by the disease during 2010.
The two pilots, carried out over a period of six weeks, will be closely managed and monitored to examine how safe, effective and humane a method this is. An independent panel of experts will be asked to oversee and evaluate the pilots and report to Ministers, before a decision is made on whether to roll out the policy more widely.
Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said:
"Bovine TB is a chronic and insidious diseasewhich is having a devastating impact on farmers and rural communities. Unless further action is taken now it will continue to get worse.
"There is great strength of feeling on this issue and no-one wants to see badgers culled. But no country in the world where wildlife carries TB has successfully controlled the disease in cattle without tackling its presence in wildlife as well.
"We already have a robust set of cattle controls in place, and we plan to strengthen them further, but the scientific evidence shows that unless we tackle bovine TB in badgers we will never eradicate it in cattle. Ultimately we want to be able to vaccinate both cattle and badgers and plan to invest a further £20 million over the next five years on the development of usable badger and cattle vaccines. However these are still years away, and we cannot say with any certainty if, or when, they will be ready.
"We are clear these pilots must be carried out in accordance with strict licensing conditions so that they are effective, safe and humane. Natural England will carefully consider two licence applications, pre-selected by Defra, and will assess them against the criteria set out in the guidance I am publishing today."
The package of measures already in place to control and eradicate bovine TB includes:
• Routine testing and surveillance of all cattle based on risk. We have already significantly expanded the areas on more frequent testing;
• Pre-movement testing of cattle from high risk areas;
• Movement restrictions on animals from herds that have or are suspected of having bovine TB;
• The slaughter of all animals that have tested positive for bovine TB
;
• DNA tagging of cattle that have proved positive, before they are slaughtered, to prevent fraud;
• Advice and support for farmers that have had cases of bovine TB in their herds on biosecurity and reducing the risk of bovine TB; and
• Research into how bovine TB is spread, and the continuing development of oral badger and cattle vaccines.
Scientists agree that if culling is conducted in line with the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT), we would expect it to reduce TB in cattle over a 150 square kilometre area, plus a 2 km surrounding ring, by an average of 16 per cent over nine years when compared to similar unculled areas.
Farmers will have to take reasonable measures to identify barriers and buffers, such as rivers, coastlines and motorways, or areas where there are no cattle or where vaccination of badgers occurs, at the edge of culling areas to minimise the ’perturbation effect’, where disturbing the badger population is thought to cause an increase in TB in cattle in the surrounding area.
Mrs Spelman also revealed that up to £250,000 a year will be made available over the next three years to support and encourage badger vaccination. The Government has already spent £35 million on developing badger and cattle vaccines since 1994 and plan to spend another £20 million on the development of practical and usable vaccines over the next five years.
Veterinary Associations have given their full support to Defra’s announcement that two pilot badger culls will go ahead in 2012 in the next step in the battle against bovine Tuberculosis (TB).
Ongoing analysis of the RBCTs reveals that 9 years after the proactive cull started the Confirmed New Incidents (CNIs) in cattle herds in the proactive culling area has reduced by 16% - this is agreed by all scientific experts (meeting of 4th April 2011 – see notes). This success rate is set to increase as time goes on. The figures agreed at the 4th April meeting also reveal a 31.5% reduction in confirmed breakdowns in cattle from one year after the last proactive cull to February 2011.
Importantly, the pilots will also monitor the humaneness of the controlled shooting method to ensure the cull can be carried out humanely.
The British Veterinary Association (BVA) and British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) have long argued that policies to tackle, and ultimately eradicate, bovine TB will only succeed if the disease is tackled in wildlife as well as stricter measures to control the disease in cattle.
