Badger vaccine soon for fight against TB
That's what Minister Joe Walsh has told Cork Green Party TD Dan Boyle in a Dáil reply to a question seeking his views on a description of his Department's tuberculosis eradication scheme as "a cruel slaughter of badgers, masquerading as science".
Deputy Boyle also asked Minister Walsh if he will review the policy in favour of more scientific and more compassionate methods to prevent the spread of tuberculosis.
He also sought his views on the Krebs experiment in Britain, which has led to a suspension of "reactive" culling of badgers.
Minister Walsh said the bovine tuberculosis eradication scheme, carried out in full compliance with an EU directive, has reduced the level of tuberculosis in cattle from 17% in 1955 to 0.3% in 2003.
A multi-disciplined research programme involving staff from the Department, Teagasc and the universities was making significant progress in identifying improvements to the eradication programme.
Significant progress is also being made on the development of a vaccine strategy for the badger population.
In this, his Department and others are in collaboration with scientific colleagues in Britain and in New Zealand.
The present policy is scientifically based and under constant review. For instance, this year, changes include a more focused contiguous herd testing policy, more use of the ancillary gamma interferon blood test in target herds, and a new, enhanced computer system which will improve our analytical capacity.
Results of a study into the effect of local area badger removal will be published shortly.
This is expected to confirm the results of an earlier East Offaly study, which indicated a significant effect on bovine tuberculosis levels, following removal of badgers from an area.
As agreed in the PPF social partnership agreement, a new wildlife unit has been introduced to focus on the TB blackspot areas of the country. The removal of badgers is carried out by trained staff and badger welfare is a major element in the programme.
With reference to the Krebs experiment in Britain, he said detailed results have not been published by the British authorities and, therefore, it would not be appropriate to comment at this stage.
While the suspension of reactive culling of badgers has been noted, it is not possible to extrapolate the position to this country as the ecology of the badger is different here.
For example, in Britain, 70% of setts are in woodland and 30% in pasture, while the reverse applies in Ireland, and the social group size is different.
The method of capture is also unlike that practiced here; the British use the caged trapping method, whereas Ireland use restraints for trapping. "We did experiment with caged trapping but found no advantages from a welfare point of view," said Minister Walsh.
