Western Morning News (Saturday)
Record year for vaccinations of Duchy badgers
MORE than 250 badgers have been vaccinated against Bovine TB (bTB) in Cornwall this year, making it the most successful season for the scheme to date.
New figures reveal that in total more than 800 badger vaccinations have been carried out locally in the last four years, thanks to a partnership between ZSL (The Zoological Society of London), Cornwall Wildlife Trust and several groups of trailblazing farmers across the Duchy.
The Cornwall badger vaccination programme has grown as more farmers and landowners come forward to use the bTB control method as an alternative to culling. The number of vaccinations has increased year-on-year, with the exception of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A new area of vaccination has been started around the River Cober near Helston, adding to established vaccination programmes in Penwith and mid-Cornwall, including several Cornwall Wildlife Trust nature reserves. Badger vaccination is being carried out in a bid to reduce the spread of bTB in cattle, a disease which has had a huge impact on livestock farmers in the region.
Scientists from ZSL have carefully taken samples from most of the badgers caught to monitor bTB infection in the population over time as the vaccination work progresses.
The expectation is that vaccination will reduce bTB in badger populations and have a knock-on, beneficial effect on bTB in cattle.
Rosie Woodroffe, Professor at ZSL and lead for the Cornwall Badger Project, said: “Badgers play a small but important role in the cattle bTB problem, and scientists have predicted that vaccinating them could help to eradicate bTB, when combined with controls aimed at cattle.
“As government policy pivots away from badger culling and towards badger vaccination, the on-theground evidence that we are gathering should help landowners across the country to decide whether to follow the lead of the pioneering farmers working with Cornwall Wildlife Trust and ZSL.”
The farmer-led mid-Cornwall project, which has been running for four years, has delivered over 200 badger vaccinations in total across an area of about 20 square kilometres.
Around 20 farmers in St Stephen, near St Austell, have been involved in the scheme set up by Cornwall
Wildlife Trust with ZSL in 2019.
Emma Ead, a dairy farmer involved in the mid-Cornwall badger vaccination project, said: “I felt a lot of pressure to sign up to the cull – I didn’t know we had a choice to go down the vaccination route until a group of us got together and met with Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
“For us, this disease is like a nightmare that never ends. Fortunately, the vaccinations appear to be working and we want to continue with them. We’re particularly interested in the blood tests results, which will hopefully tell us more about the health of the badgers we have here on site. The vaccinations have definitely been a worthwhile investment for our family farm.”
Stuart Coleman, farm advisor for Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said: “All the badgers caught in the Cober area in the first year tested negative for bTB, which is great news and it means they now should be bTB free for life.”
Badgers generally live from three to five years, meaning the number of vaccinated individuals will build up over time, leading to a healthy, new population, whilst any infected badgers will naturally die out.