Bovine TB, badgers and The Trust

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Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is the first organisation to spend its own money to vaccinate badgers against bovine TB.

A little background...

The first badger to be found infected with bovine TB was a road casualty animal in Gloucestershire in 1971. Over the intervening 40 years there has been a remorseless increase in the number of cattle that have tested positive for the disease not just in the South West of England but also in Wales and the Midlands. The consequence of the disease for affected farmers has been financial trauma, unwanted distraction and psychological pressure.

The Trust has been involved in bovine TB for over 30 years, and has been fortunate enough to have in it's midst Dr Gordon McGlone OBE, the Trust's CEO and one of the Wildlife Trusts' national spokespersons on badgers and bovine TB.

In late 2010, the Trust decided that it would pay for the deployment of the new bTB badger vaccine at a cost of over £5000 making it the first organisation to do this. This work, which has been funded by the Trust’s members, began in mid June by specially trained Trust staff on a set of nature reserves where the badger vaccination could be used practically, to the benefit of the Trust’s, and its neighbour’s, cattle. 

The Trust has supported Ministerial Advisory Groups, presented evidence to Parliamentary select committees, permitted its nature reserves to be used for Government bTB research, visited research teams in England and Ireland, organized information seminars and led The Wildlife Trusts on this subject. But most importantly, the Trust recognises, as a farmer itself, the serious impact that bovine TB has on the efficiency of farming and the welfare of farmers and their families.

Results of the Trusts first year’s work along with a PDF of the Badger Vaccination Deployment Programme can be viewed here.

This work has been widely recognized and is referenced in these research notes. 

Its value has been understood by Defra’s Secretary of State Caroline Spelman MP.

Why is Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust vaccinating badgers?

Peer reviewed research demonstrated that vaccinating uninfected badgers with BCG resulted in a 74% reduction in the incidence of badgers testing positive to the antibody blood test for TB. The Trust’s five year vaccination programmes will seek to achieve a level of immunity within the badgers that it captures and treats on its nature reserves. 

BadgerBCG alone is not the solution to bTB, but it does have an immediate effect with no associated negative impact. Culling, as its most vocal supporters admit, produces an increase in bTB in neighbouring herds through perturbation and as yet no proven benefit. Indeed, the Independent Scientific Group research concluded that culling should not be part of the government ‘toolbox’.

The Wildlife Trusts’ badger advisory group submitted a very clear set of responses to the Defra consultation:

  • Badger vaccination should be explored as the major way, in the short to medium term, of tackling badger-cattle and badger-badger transfer of bTB.
  • All possible biosecurity measures should be pursued following the ISG recommendations, and where appropriate regulating their application by farmers and landowners, and providing advice, support and incentive.
  • More research should be carried out into the incidence of bTB within different farming methods.
  • Current testing methods and regimes should be reviewed and more effective testing methods developed.
  • A cattle vaccine against bTB should be developed as a matter of priority and all legislative hurdles overcome to enable this to become the long term solution to bTB.
  • The Wildlife Trusts made it clear that badgers, whilst a significant part of the wildlife reservoir of bTB, are not the major source of infection within the national herd.

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust believes that by playing an active role in promoting BadgerBCG vaccination, it is contributing to a practical solution. The industry needs a long term answer, vaccination offers hope. The Trust will continue to pay its contribution.

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The road ahead

In 2011 Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust completed a badger vaccination programme on seven of its nature reserves. Whilst the Trust does not claim that this work is creating scientific information, it does believe that it has been able to create new knowledge on the practical use of Badger BCG. 

The Trust will continue its programme for a full five years (at a cost of over £5000 per year) because it accepts the points made below by the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency:

  1. Injectable BCG reduces severity & progression of TB in badgers and reduces shedding. Results from field study consistent with this but no determination of vaccine efficacy possible.
  2. Licensing vaccines for TB takes considerable time and expertise but can be done (6 yrs for BadgerBCG).
  3. Oral vaccination potentially cheaper and easier to deploy but no guarantee when R&D phase will be completedEven then have 3-4 years of regulatory work before a licensed product available.
  4. BCG in badgers will never be 100% effective(<100% efficacy x <100% coverage).
  5. Does not benefit animals already infected.
  6. But does not carry the risk of perturbation (cf. culling).
  7. Even a perfect vaccine is useless if it is not used.
  8. No data to say what the impact on cattle will be and when evident. Will not know until we try.
  9. If any chance of being effective will need to be sustained over many years (>5 yrs).
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