No evidence of TB from deer, says Minister Coveney
He said samples from four deer have been submitted, through his department’s regional veterinary laboratories, as TB suspects, since January 2011.
TB was not confirmed in any of these. “My department, therefore, has no recent evidence to substantiate claims.” said Mr Coveney, responding to Michael Healy-Rae, TD, in the Dail.
Mr Coveney said: “My department has received complaints... however, my department’s belief is that, in so far as TB is concerned, the underlying problem in these areas is driven primarily by badgers and not by deer. In fact, research has shown that deer as a species are not particularly effective as maintenance hosts for TB, except when numbers are high. In this context, an exercise conducted in 2007-2008, focused on TB strain-typing in cattle, deer and badgers, found a significantly higher prevalence in badgers than in either cattle or deer.”
