Over 2,000 badgers culled in Cavan in last six years

Culling badgers will not solve Ireland’s bovine TB problem, warns one wildlife advocate.

Andrew Kelly is director of the long-standing Badgerwatch Ireland, an NGO dedicated to the conservation, protection and welfare of badgers.

“It has been shown in both Ireland and the UK that the culling of badgers has only a minimal affect on bTB levels in cattle in the short term. In the longer term, proactive culling of badgers has been shown to increase the spread of bTB in cattle, particularly in areas outside the cull zone.

“Culling disrupts badger social and territorial structure which leads to an increase in badger dispersal,” explains Mr Kelly, who has been involved in Badgerwatch for approximately two decades.

In figures obtained by the Celt from the Department, over 1,700 badgers have been culled in County Cavan alone in the five full years since 2020; and given current trajectory, this year is on course to record the highest number yet.

Journal.ie reported in May this year that 31,034 badgers were culled nationally between 2021-2024. They further reported that of the 10,301 culled badgers submitted for testing in the past five years, 8,211 were found to be clear of mycobacterium bovis – the bacteria that causes bovine tuberculosis (bTB).

Mr Kelly’s comments come as Minister Martin Heydon commits to revamping the bovine TB programme that will see culling continue as part of wildlife control. Informed by the TB Forum earlier this year, and meetings with stakeholders and farm bodies in May, the minister vowed to tackle the high incidence of bTB.

Significant driver

In its February submission to the TB forum the IFA asserted: “Wildlife continues to be the most significant driver of between farm spread of the disease and it must be addressed effectively in a new enhanced TB programme. Farmers are prohibited from taking the most effective measures on their farms to stop badgers infecting our animals with TB. It is the responsibility of the DAFM to implement a programme that removes this threat from and around our farms.”

Amongst the IFA’s 13 recommendations to tackle TB, they contended: ‘The Wildlife Control Programme must revert to density reduction to bring the badger population to the previously identified DAFM figure of a maximum of 0.5 badgers/sq km to reduce the potential of badger to cattle transmission.’

The Anglo-Celt asked the Department expressly if the minister aims to implement the 0.5 badgers/sq km recommendation. A spokesperson didn’t address the question, however they did say the minister presented five key measures “based on the best scientific and veterinary advice” to address the current rates of bTB which includes the aim “reduce the impact of wildlife on the spread of bTB”.

“The Minister is currently considering in the context of an Action Plan how best to address this to reduce the risk of spreading bTB from herd to herd through animal movements.

“Population control of badgers is a key component of the wildlife programme in areas of high disease incidence and where the source of a TB outbreak is attributed to badgers. The Department’s wildlife programme uses both vaccination and culling of badgers where appropriate.”

In promoting badger culling as part of the bTB solution, IFA point to the correlation between focussing solely on culling (as opposed to vaccination) and TB reactor numbers.

“In the late 1990s, TB reactor numbers were over 40,000 annually. The wildlife programme was implemented nationally in the early 2000s based solely on density reduction,” detailed the IFA in their February submission. “By the mid-2010s TB reactor numbers were reduced to fewer than 15,000 a year and only started to really increase again from 2018 onwards when the DAFM moved from density reduction to vaccination in the wildlife programme.”

The Department’s latest figures show that in the 12 months leading up to June 29 this year, there were 43,290 bovine TB (bTB) reactors.

Echoing the minister’s “best scientific” advice Mr Kelly claims the science shows that badgers do not spread bTB to cattle.

“Bovine TB is a bovine disease which is primarily spread through direct contact or by inhalation of infected aerosols. However, bTB can also be spread indirectly through contaminated soil, silage or slurry.

“Slurry from bTB infected herds is a source of bTB because bTB bacteria can survive in slurry. There are approximately 40 million tonnes of slurry spread in Ireland every year,” he said.

Mr Kelly cites the Journal.ie article which reported that bTB incidence rose to 6% and observed, “yet there are no disease control measures on the spreading of slurry from these animals.”

“Although it is difficult to prove the movement of infections, a good example using Whole Genome Sequencing in Cumbria, showed that a recent outbreak came from infected livestock imported from Ireland. Six years later the same strain of bTB appeared in the badger population,” he said, indicating any transfer could be from bovine to badger.

“Over the past 10 years, we have seen the population of cattle rise by 350,000 and a corresponding increase of herd incidence of bTB.

“We have also seen an increase in the number of badgers culled during this period. So why haven’t we seen a decrease in bTB levels? It is clear to the people listening to the science, that badger culling is not the solution.”

Asked for his response to the Department’s intention to continue pursuing badger culling, Mr Kelly of Badgerwatch likened it to the “American gun problem”.

“The gun lobbyists can only see a solution by throwing more guns at the problem. I think that better solutions could be achieved with a better bTB Vaccine, as this was very successful in people; a more accurate bTB test, with improving biotechnology this may be possible; and restrictions of movement in cattle.”