TCD badger discovery may help stop TB spread in cattle

Zoologists at Trinity College Dublin have uncovered new ranging patterns in badgers which might help stop the spread of TB in cattle.

Researchers working on a project with the Department of Agriculture and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) tagged badgers and then discovered that some male badgers, typically younger males, did not adhere to the previously understood territories occupied by groups of badgers.

Instead, these ‘super rangers’ travelled far beyond the marked out territories that other badgers in the group can occupy and seldom stray from for years, making them more likely to end up with other badgers cetes (group of badgers) and increase the risk of spreading TB.