Irish badger cull ‘futile’ in controlling bovine tuberculosis
A new report claims the “virtual extermination” of badgers in the Republic of Ireland has failed to stop the spread of bovine tuberculosis. Badgers have been blamed for spreading bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) to cattle. Although so many badgers have been killed that they are extinct in many areas of Ireland, the level of TB in cattle is twice as high as in Britain. In the UK, the government-backed Randomised Badger Culling Trial (also known as the Krebs Trial), which ended in 2003, showed that culling could make the TB problem worse.
Relevant:
- Bovine TB, the hepatitis C virus receptor and antibiotics
- Culling badgers a low priority for curbing cattle tuberculosis
