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The debate about badgers and TB in cattle has been hotly debated for years. Charlotte Shepherd weighs up the arguments as the government decides whether or not to re-introduce a badger cull.

"IF YOU take badgers out of the equation, you would still have bovine TB," says Tony Dean, chairman of the Gloucestershire Badger Group.

Mr Dean was responding to new calls by the National Farmers' Union for a badger cull, following the publication of a report by the Proceedings of the Royal Society which found up to 75 per cent of TB in cattle is caused by "local effects within high-risk areas" which could include contact with infected badgers.

NFU deputy president Meurig Raymond said: "The message for (Environment Secretary) Hilary Benn is crystal clear - infected badgers are responsible for the vast majority of TB outbreaks."

Calls for a badger cull may meet with much sympathy from the farming industry and will have particular resonance in Gloucestershire, which has been identified as a bovine TB "hotspot" by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

However, many groups including the Badger Trust and the RSPCA are against the practice of badger culling.

Members of the Badger Trust point to evidence from a decade of research by the government-appointed Independent Scientific Group that said killing badgers would not reduce bovine TB.

Public opinion may also be hard to sway in favour of a cull. The last Government consultation on badger culling in 2006 received 47,000 responses with 95 per cent of respondents opposed to a cull.

Those against a badger cull say that cattle movements play a greater part in the spreading of bovine TB.

However, Gloucestershire farmer, Simon Weaver, who has 180 cows on his farm in Upper Slaughter, said cattle movements could not account for any TB outbreaks amongst his animals.

"We are a closed herd anyway so whatever is delivering TB must be local", he said. "We have a lot of badgers and we find a lot dead."

He believes the government is dragging its feet over action because it is a sensitive issue. "Everyone knows that badgers are responsible," he said.

The topic of how to control bovine TB has been hotly contested for years.

There are those who believe that the badger is to blame and the government should re-introduce a culling programme while others call for alternative methods, such as more vigorous pre and post cattle movement testing and widespread use of the more reliable but expensive TB blood test, gamma interferon.

There are also calls for a TB vaccine to be introduced. "We have been shouting for a vaccine for years," said Mr Dean.

The government is hopeful that a safe vaccine for badgers could be available within the next five years and in 2006 asked the Central Science Laboratory to undertake a trial in Gloucestershire because it is a bovine TB hotspot.

The trial involves catching 250 badgers and vaccinating them before returning them to their sett.

Defra spokesman Linda Scott said it was a long-term trial.

"The earliest we could have an oral vaccine would be 2013," she said.

But with 216 herds in Gloucestershire reporting TB incidents last year, the farming industry may not be able to wait that long for a solution.

Government ministers are now considering all the evidence and will decide whether or not to re-introduce a badger cull to tackle bovine TB.

A Defra spokesman said: "No decision has been made on this issue and Ministers are considering the full range of evidence and have emphasised the importance of making the right decision rather than a quick decision."

Whatever decision is reached, it may be unable to please both the farmers and wildlife campaigners.

11:00am Thursday 20th March 2008

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