New badger movements and bTB findings stress problem

Two new studies have shone fresh light on the increasing complexity of the badger/bTB problem in the UK.

The first study to test for bTB on the edge of the cattle TB epidemic in England has shown almost one in five badgers tested positive for the disease.

The roadkill survey was carried out in Cheshire in 2014 through a local stakeholder TB Group that included farmers, wildlife groups and vets.

Scientists from the universities of Nottingham, Liverpool and Lancaster tested 94 carcases for the bacteria that causes bTB – Mycobacterium bovis – and found 20 were infected. The strain of M bovis found in Cheshire badgers (SB0129 or genotype 25) was the same as that found in cattle in the same area. The results of the study have been published in Scientific Reports.

Movement behaviours

Research led by Andrew Byrne of the Agri-food and Biosciences Institute in Belfast has also shed light on how European badgers can exhibit a range of different movement behaviours across a large pasture-dominated landscape.

• Read the full story in the 17 December issue of Veterinary Times.