Despite a recent study showing badgers may not transmit bovine tuberculosis (TB) to cattle after all, culls are set to be carried out in five new areas of England in an attempt to control the disease.
While the government has not confirmed the culls will take place, the BBC claims they will begin in early September in north and south Devon, north Cornwall, west Dorset, and south Herefordshire.
Culling is part of the government's 25-year strategy to eradicate the disease, which slowly kills cows and in rare cases can be passed to humans.
However, there is no evidence that culling, which is already underway in Somerset, Gloucestershire and Dorset, is effective.
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) did not confirm the culls, but told WIRED: "Natural England is currently considering applications for further badger control licences as part of the usual licencing process."
However, the broadcaster claims animal extermination companies have already been contacted and marksmen trained to shoot badgers in new locations.
Defra added: "England has the highest incidence of TB in Europe and that is why we are taking strong action to deliver our 25-year strategy to eradicate the disease and protect the future of our dairy and beef industries."
The disease results in thousands of cattle being slaughtered every year at a huge cost to farmers, with an average outbreak costing in the region of £34,000, according to TB Free England.
"Badger control in areas where TB is rife is one part of our long-term plan, which also includes strengthening cattle testing and movement controls and improving biosecurity on farm and when trading. This comprehensive approach has worked overseas and is supported by the Government and Defra chief scientists and leading vets," Defra continued.
But Jenny Pike of the campaign group Devon and Cornwall Against the Badger Cull, said just six per cent of bovine TB cases can be traced back to badgers.
She told Wired: "Scientific research has shown that culling badgers is not the answer to the problem of TB in cattle ... in fact there is evidence to suggest that despite three years of culling in Somerset, Gloucestershire and Dorset, the number of cattle slaughtered due to TB has in fact gone up in all three areas.
"So far £25 million pound of tax payer’s money has been spent on killing just under 4,000 badgers at a cost of over £6,000 per badger."
A study published in August in the journal Ecology letters, suggested cows contract bovine TB by coming into contact with infected faeces and urine, rather than badgers. A team of researchers tagged and tracked hundreds of cattle and badgers using GPS across 20 farms in Cornwall to study their interactions. The researchers found the two species were never found nearby and there wasn't a single case of direct contact between them.
Lead researcher Rosie Woodroffe, from the Zoological Society of London said advice to farmers on how to prevent outbreaks of TB needs to be examined and it may be that it takes so long for badger culls to have an effect because their faeces, which may be infected, remains in fields long after their demise.
Pike added that the cull is "really is not a good use of taxpayer money, and it's going to cost thousands of badgers their lives for no benefit at all to farmers.”
Trial culls of badgers begun in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset in 2013 and were extended to north Dorset in August 2015, with around 2,000 badgers killed since the cull began.
In February, the government revealed six new areas had applied for badger cull licenses and it's confirmed culls will continue in west Gloucestershire, west Somerset and Dorset. Campaigners wrote to the new prime Minister, Theresa May immediately after her appointment to ask her to call off the culls.
Writing on behalf of 'Team Badger', Queen guitarist Dr Brian May said: "On 12th July three of the country's most highly qualified experts with experience of badgers and bovine tuberculosis wrote to you to explain their science-based position of opposition to the cull, on the grounds that it is both ineffective and inhumane.
"The verdict from the overwhelming majority of experts is that this is a disease spread almost entirely through cattle to cattle transmission and, as such, it can only be solved through cattle-based measures such as increased disease testing and enhanced on-farm biosecurity.
He said millions of people oppose the cull and more than 70 per cent of respondents to a Natural England survey said they are concerned a roll-out of the cull could be bad for business and lead to people avoid culling areas.
He concluded: "Ending the cull will enable focus and funds to be redirected into effective and more humane solutions to bovine TB: the introduction of an effective cattle TB vaccine; increased frequency of testing in higher risk areas allowing better identification and management of the disease; and improved disease containment through risk-based cattle movement controls."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
