BBC Wildlife Magazine

Missed out

- John Burton, via email

Patrick Barkham’s detailed and thorough report (Badgers in the Firing Line, September 2017) is a very useful summary of the current situation in relation to badgers and bTB. However, there is a very important omission, and that is the role of other wildlife as reservoirs or transmitte­rs of the disease. Deer, feral pigs/wild boar, brown rats and voles are all known to become infected, but very little research has been carried out on their role as either vectors or reservoirs. Having followed the issue for some 40 years I have concluded that the badger is simply a convenient scapegoat. The conclusion I draw is that cattle are the reservoir, and it is moving cattle around that causes the outbreaks. This also might explain why bTB disappeare­d from some parts of Britain where badgers remained abundant, but had previously had infected cattle grazing in the area.

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