Who is really in charge of Bovine TB control at Defra?

It’s very strange. The brand new Labour Government’s manifesto says that badger culls are  ‘ineffective’, yet they will ‘honour’ those existing ineffective cull contracts. Doesn’t sound right? Furthermore, they say that they will not issue new culling licences, but then issue a licence on 6th September to start a new ineffective cull, with one group boasting that they killed 22 adult and young badgers over the weekend.

It seems that great efforts are being made to avoid explaining what Labour mean by  ‘ineffective’ culling. The expansion of the culls from February 2026 to the end of 2029  looks and walks like a quacking duck manifesto u-turn, if the consultation that closed last week is any guide.

It looks like the brand new licence for what is called Low Risk Area culling have started in Cumbria across most of a zone called Hotspot 29, with around 1,000 mostly healthy  badgers to be shot dead over an area of around 350 sq km. Actually, according to local knowledge in Penrith, it started (unlawfully) around six weeks ago, when at least one participating farmer was told  to get on with it. The area is below Carlisle running south, bordered to the west by the river Eden, and to the east side of Penrith. Specifically, much of Hotspot 29 forms the cull zone, then the area surrounding the current 4 breakdowns will form the Minimum Intervention Area (MIA) where all badgers are targeted. The land to the north and south of MIA will form the outer area for some culling. The area north of Penrith to the West of the river Eden has had one breakdown. This area is sandwiched between the A6/M62 boundaries and could also get some culling.

The Appearance is that a culling licence has been arranged by the same cull company that ran the previous Cumbria cull, Area 32 south of Penrith, already reported in detail. It’s where culling started after cattle testing had reduced breakdowns close to zero, and bTB was found to be embedded in a handful of chronic farms – not badgers at all. In Hotspot 29, livestock farming is generally being run down, with several farms closing and the older generations taking Rural Payment Agency retirement deals. Badgers are a scapegoat for this miserable demise and the local gamekeepers are all over it, believing badgers are the problem because they have been told so.

Any badger cull licence issued will have been issued due to intense pressure from farming industry bodies who have been gearing up to cull north of Penrith since the end of winter. It was long promised. They made preparations in May, but then Rishi Sunak called the election, and Labour said they would end the culls and not issue new licences. So why do DEFRA / APHA  appear to have said ‘yes’ to this new badger cull, despite the failure of badger culling in Area 32? 1,115 badgers have been killed there since 2018 for no good reason at all (here). 

Hotspot 29. Herd breakdowns 2013-2024. Note in 2020 due to covid restrictions, cattle testing was suspended. This resulted in increased trading of diseased cattle and further infections in subsequent years. In 2022 many new enhanced tests began to address the 2021 increase in the area, with the APHA/CVO epidemiological mistake of blaming it on badgers. It is what the 2018 LRA policy calls a ‘precautionary’ measure, and is the travesty of a failed policy that Labour now perpetuates, despite promising not to.

Few breakdowns have occurred in this area during the past 10 years. Killing hundreds of healthy badgers because of the trading of  infected cattle and mixed grazing is unnecessary and disgraceful.

So what’s going on? Do Steve Reed and Dan Zeichner have a proper handle on their civil servants – are they running the shop or not? Christine Middlemiss met with Steve Reed recently, still insisting badgers are to blame, based on her dubious scientific understanding. Has she overstepped the mark and will the Ministers turn a blind eye? We need to know. This week in response to a Parliamentary Question, (here) we see the same old language creeping back in, with words prepared for Daniel Zeichner saying “the gap between the end of one form of badger disease control and the successful deployment of another, should be as narrow as possible to bank the maximum disease control benefits.”  But there has been no evidence of tangible benefits to bank from the ineffective badger culls, and badger vaccination is a total distraction and waste of time. Why is he letting the old rhetoric prevail, distracting from the task in hand to revolutionize the cattle testing system and saving taxpayers £Millions? Just doesn’t add up.

Hotspot area (HS29) was established in January 2023 in response to the increase in OTF-W breakdowns in the area over the previous years, a result of infected cattle trading and 4 yearly testing. It covers 510 square km. Enhanced TB surveillance measures have been implemented in cattle across the whole hotspot area, with collection of ‘found dead’ badger and wild deer carcasses. The problem appears to be a group of landowners pursuing an original ‘Potential Hotspot 29’ designation to be upgraded to full hotspot status, in order to apply for a cull licence.

Meetings were held locally by the NFU acting alongside the cull company who were encouraging all the farmers/landowners to sign up, together with supplying/distributing, peanuts and equipment to farmers for baiting. The intention seemed to be to cull 95% of badgers ‘before they became a problem’. Being told by someone: “just get on with shooting and don’t wait for the licence to be issued”. Rumours suggest that local farmers were wound up by this rhetoric until they were champing at the bit to get on with it. Groups have been seen out lamping at night, with an eye witness to two separate groups shooting across the valley from opposite directions at the same target. 

There are currently only six breakdowns in Hotspot 29. With four in a cluster to the east of Penrith. One of this cluster is Hole Farm, Ousby, in a general area where unlawful culling has been reported. It is doubtful if Natural England and the police will investigate due to lack of guidance and resources.

Meanwhile in and around the  failed Cull Area 32 breakdowns continue despite badger culling and vaccination. When will they twig they are wasting their time and other peoples money with huge human and animal welfare costs?

 Hotspot 29

In Spring 2024, the APHA introduced a staged strategy for BTB hotspots. To determine whether an index (initial) case should trigger a hotspot area, APHA vets will try to establish the likely origin of infection for the affected herd or cluster of herds. If the origin of the index case(s) is likely to be the introduction of TB-infected cattle into the herd, then APHA will not instigate a hotspot area and the standard procedures for a normal OTFW breakdown in the LRA are followed, including radial surveillance testing to monitor for any spread from those introductions. APHA has said for many years, most LRA breakdowns are due to cattle movements, confirmed by Whole Genome Sequencing.  But demonstration of shared strains between cattle and badgers once cattle have polluted the landscape is now sufficient to cull badgers, without evidence  of directionality. This dumbing down  is simply bad science with no justification and should be considered unlawful. (See here)

The Defra  2014 strategy predicted LRA TB freedom by 2025.  Just look at how badly things are going. Herd incidence has nearly doubled. Largely because APHA are only now increasing cattle testing measures (e.g. from four-yearly testing to annual and 6 monthly) hence more disclosure and with badger blame to cover their inadequacies. Government strategy has been so poor that they need something to be the cause other than their own failings and neglect.

Rise of BTB herd incidence in the Low Risk Area of England over the last 25 years due to inadequate cattle testing and movement controls. Costing farmers and taxpayers dearly.

Badger Crowd has one message to Steve Reed and Daniel Zeichner –

You need to get a grip on your Department right now.