Vaccinations Work Better Than Culling for Bovine Tuberculosis in Badgers, Study Finds

Rather than culling animals amidst major disease outbreaks, a new study has found a potentially more effective alternative: vaccinations. At least that’s what researchers confirmed for curbing bovine tuberculosis in badgers in research recently published in the journal People and Nature.

The findings are promising for not only protecting badgers but also cattle, which have been impacted by bovine tuberculosis, a disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis. Badgers and cattle can spread bovine tuberculosis to one another as well as other animals, including pigs and goats.

“Bovine tuberculosis can devastate farmers’ livelihoods, and hundreds of thousands of cattle and badgers have been slaughtered for bTB control in recent years,” Rosie Woodroffe, project lead and a researcher at the Zoological Society of London, said in a statement. “Everyone wants to see this disease eradicated. Our hope is that this work will help to move bTB control into a place where farmers and wildlife groups can work together towards this shared goal.” 

Researchers, along with farmers, partnered in a four-year pilot program to administer vaccines to badgers, rather than culling them, in hopes of curbing the spread of bovine tuberculosis. They vaccinated badgers at 12 farms in Cornwall and collected blood samples to test for the disease. The researchers also collected information from farmers about how effective the program was for curbing bovine tuberculosis and whether it was practical enough to continue doing.

In total, around 74% of badgers in the local area received the vaccinations. By the end of the program, the amount of badgers that tested positive for bovine tuberculosis decreased from 16% to 0%, according to the study. 

Further research will be needed to determine whether the vaccinations also helped reduce the spread of bovine tuberculosis in cattle, but according to the study, participating farmers were happy with the results and wanted to continue with the vaccination program after the four years.

Badger culling in the UK has been in effect for around 11 years. As the BBC reported, by July 2023, around 210,000 badgers had been culled, along with more than 330,000 cattle, because it is considered too costly to treat affected cattle.

As The Guardian reported, the UK government is considering ending culling in favor of vaccinations, but there had been criticisms and concerns over whether it would be effective or affordable.

According to the study authors, their findings of using vaccines on badgers in a small area are promising as an effective, affordable and practical option to replace culling.

“We need a solution to tackle bovine tuberculosis — as a cattle farmer, I’m living with the constant worry that one of our cows might test positive for the disease, so doing nothing is not an option,” said Keith Truscott, senior author of the study and founder of Mid Cornwall Badger Vaccination Farmers Group. “I sleep better at night knowing that there are people out there working to eradicate the disease through vaccination. I’m proud to be part of this project, and even more so to have instigated it.”  

The study was a collaboration among the Zoological Society of London, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Imperial College London, Natural England and farmers.

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