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Gloucester Wildlife Trust to vaccinate badgers against TB09/03/2011 11:39:56 Fight against Bovine TB needs a scientific solutionMarch 2011. The Wildlife Trusts are concerned that proposals by the Government for badger culling in England's bovine tuberculosis (bTB) hotspots will not help control the spread of the disease to cattle. So the Gloucester Wildlife Trust has launched a programme to vaccinate all badgers resident on their reserves against bTB. Chief Executive of Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, Dr Gordon McGlone, said "I have committed Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust to begin a voluntary programme to vaccinate badgers on its nature reserves against bovine TB. We will begin an immunisation campaign on our Greystones Farm Nature Reserve at Bourton-on-the-Water this summer. The programme will last five years, by which time the badger populations on each site chosen should have an overall immunity to this serious disease. Long term solution In the longer term, improved bTB testing, better on farm bio-security underpinned by vaccines for badgers and cattle is the essential combination. But this will take time and not be easy to achieve. The Trust will now be writing to its keenest supporters to raise the many thousands of pounds that will be necessary to pay for this pioneering work."
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Wales is on Glocestershire's doorstep. Welsh policies will spread Bovine TB as they go for the poorly thought out blame and kill option- this always scares badgers away, who are sensible to the butchery of rich farmers, and will lead to an influx of Bovine TB badgers from Wales (infected usually through poor animal husbandry on Welsh farms). As Wales is trying to export its problems the vaccination programme will only work in the very long term.
Posted by: Clive Freemantle | 12 Mar 2011 10:09:12