Badger vaccine is available for use (From Western Telegraph)
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Badger vaccine is available for use
8:50am Tuesday 20th July 2010 in Letters
Dear editor
I find it interesting that the Welsh Assembly Government is now using taxpayers’ money to fund advertisements promoting their stance on the badger cull (Western Telegraph, June 16th).
Their advertisement states that “a badger vaccine is not yet widely available”. But, an injectable vaccine has already been licensed and is available for use. Not only that, but vaccinating badgers would be cheaper than culling.
Everybody knows that vaccination does not cure an infected animal, but it does protect healthy animals and will result in a healthy population.
By contrast, culling badgers obviously removes a very high percentage of the badger population, but this causes the remaining animals to rove around the countryside more, and can increase the rates of TB in the badgers that remain.
It is not a question of whether or not we address these difficult issues. The Wildlife Trusts recognise the terrible impact of bovine TB on the farming industry. It is a question of how we do it.
Given the financial constraints we all face in these difficult times, the Welsh Assembly Government should not be spending money pursuing a strategy of culling, when a better solution is already available.
Dr Lizzie Wilberforce
The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.
Comments(2)
theonlygee
says...
6:43pm Wed 21 Jul 10
Note: if the vaccine route was followed 40 years ago, instead of cull after cull after cull, then by now we would probably have a **** good vaccine, and **** good bTB control.
(Who planned to try yet another pilot cull - a twit? a fool? an idiot?... well, in fact the Welsh Government did - illegally!)
coconut says...
11:47am Tue 20 Jul 10
"If only 50% of badgers can be trapped and injected with a vaccine which is only 50% effective, and only 50% of farms are involved the disease control benefit becomes rapidly diminished in any given year - 50% of 50% of 50% = 12.5% of the potential available benefit. While there will be a benefit, as any level of vaccination will produce a benefit, it will take substantially longer to appear in terms of reduced cattle breakdowns and vaccination will have to continue for a much longer time in order to accrue the benefit."
Also Dr Paul Livingstone who is the Technical Manager of the Animal Health Board (AHB) in New Zealand has said that to eradicate TB from badger populations through vaccination will mean annual vaccination of badger populations for some 4 - 5 badger generations or around 20 years - which is some commitment. See Ref 2.
Reference
1. http://www.clearstat
s.co.uk/docs/vaccine
_badger_defra.pdf
2. http://www.clearstat
s.co.uk/bovinetbnewz
ealand.php