Oxfordshire Badger Group vaccination and anti-cull campaign was covered by That's TV Oxford on 14th August and by BBC South Today evening news on 18th August. Watch our videos !
We'd like to fact check the comments by the TB Advisory Board representative to the BBC. bTB is not rampaging out of control. It can and should be eradicated via improved cattle control measures.
Vaccination is aimed at preventing badgers being infected by diseased cattle. The vast majority of badgers - even in high risk areas - do not have the disease and few are capable of spreading it.
To date, over 36% of all culled badgers have been cage trapped. Several cull areas have reported cage trap rates of over 60%. The remainder are killed by free shooting which is cruel and inhumane. Vaccination is highly cost effective, especially when run by voluntary groups such as ours. It has the advantage of building long term 'herd' immunity in badger populations and does not cause perturbation. A stable badger population is a healthy one.
Replacing culling with vaccination is NOT impossible. Yet we are starting to fear that Government is moving toward eradicating badgers - a native, protected species - across much of England. That is truly unthinkable.