Badger culls raise risk of cattle TB, study says

Badger culling could actually be making the problem of tuberculosis in cattle worse, new research suggests.

The study indicates the practice drives the surviving creatures to cover 61 per cent more land each month than before the cull began.

Researchers from the Zoological Society of London and Imperial College London say this means badgers explore new areas as individuals are removed from neighbouring groups and territories open up.

Published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, the research found that badgers also visited 45 per cent more fields each month.

The odds of a badger visiting a neighbouring territory after a cull increased 20-fold, potentially increasing the risk of TB transmission to both cattle and other badgers, according to the scientists.