Matt Jackson says it is imprecise and the wildlife trust will not allow culls on its land

At the time of writing this article we were waiting for the Government to publish the Independent Expert Panel review of the pilot badger culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset.

Unconfirmed leaks from the review, published at the end of February, reported that the culls were ineffective and failed to meet humane standards. The targets for the pilots were to cull 70 per cent of the badgers, but less than half were killed in both trial areas. The review is also reported to say that between 6.4 per cent and 18 per cent of shot animals took longer than five minutes to die. The standard set for the culls was that this should be less than five per cent.

BBOWT firmly opposes the badger culls and will not permit culling of badgers on its land. Culling is impractical, deals with only a small part of the bovine TB problem and, as the pilot culls show, is not a precise tool.

Along with all the Wildlife Trusts, we are calling on the Government to invest more in the development of an effective vaccine for cattle and to enforce the strict regulations on cattle movements. These and other on-farm measures could help to prevent the spread of bovine TB from the West Country and West Midlands across the rest of England.

Several Wildlife Trusts, including Cheshire and Shropshire, are already vaccinating badgers on their reserves, and this year BBOWT will be vaccinating badgers on its nature reserves in west Oxfordshire.

Last year, Defra produced data that shows 72 parishes in west Oxfordshire are in the high risk area, suggesting that this is where bovine TB is now endemic in cattle and wildlife. Six of our BBOWT nature reserves, including the woodland at Foxholes and the large floodplain pastures of Chimney Meadows, lie within this high risk area. As farmers ourselves, BBOWT is also very conscious of the hardship that bTB causes within the farming community. We are adhering to the strict regulations on cattle movements and other measures to help keep our cattle and our graziers’ cattle healthy.

Several graziers have cattle on Chimney Meadows nature reserve and the neighbouring National Nature Reserve, and the health of these herds is important to us. As a sensible precaution against infection, we keep the field boundaries well maintained, with at least three metres between the graziers’ stock and our cattle. BBOWT is working towards a closed herd of stock by breeding our own cattle on BBOWT land. Any new cattle that are brought in are isolated from other stock for at least two months, reducing the risks of cross-infections. For the last two years the Oxfordshire Badger Group has vaccinated badgers on Chimney Meadows nature reserve, and this will continue for another three years.

In addition, BBOWT has set up a mammal project team to vaccinate badgers on other nature reserves in West Oxfordshire. During the next few months the team will be surveying those sites to find out how many setts there are, and the likely numbers of badgers to be vaccinated. Badgers can be vaccinated up to October using baited traps around the setts to catch as many of the resident animals as possible over a two-night period. Next year’s vaccination programme will start in April and continue annually for five years. This achieves the best disease resistance as most badgers have a lifespan of three to five years.

By demonstrating that vaccination is a practical, affordable measure BBOWT hopes to raise interest in this approach among Oxfordshire farmers.

Find out more about badgers and bovine TB on www.bbowt.org.uk