The_Times__6_March_2020

24 2GM Friday March 6 2020 | the times

News

The mass culling of badgers will be
phased out and replaced by more use of
vaccines to protect cattle from
tuberculosis, the government says.
The testing of herds will also be
improved and infected animals re-
moved more quickly to prevent the
spread of the disease.
The decision will delight Carrie
Symonds, the prime minister’s fiancée,
who has campaigned against the
badger cull and was named in court
papers by farmers claiming they were
improperly denied a culling licence.
More than 100,000 badgers have
been shot since 2013 in 41 areas,
including an estimated 45,000 last
autumn. About 30,000 cattle are culled
each year after testing positive for
TB.
The approach follows a review of
government strategy on controlling
bovine TB by Professor Sir Charles
Godfray, who found that poor
biosecurity on farms and frequent
trading of cattle helped to spread the
disease.
The Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said that
badgers would be vaccinated in areas
where culls had ended. It will also carry
out trials of a cattle vaccine and aim to
deploy it within five years.
The decision is the beginning of the
end of the policy, which farmers and
government vets have said is necessary
to control a disease that devastates the
beef and dairy industries.
However, tens of thousands more
badgers are still likely to be shot in the
next few years and ministers have not
said when intensive culling will end.
The government said that culling
reduced TB cases by 66 per cent and
37 per cent over four years in Glouces-
tershire and Somerset, the first two

WALES NEWS SERVICE

Mass culling of

badgers to end

in victory for

Carrie Symonds

areas where it was introduced.

Culling would remain an option

where assessment indicated it was

needed, Defra said. Previously it was

not possible to vaccinate cattle as tests

for the disease could not differentiate

between vaccinated animals and those

which had TB. Now a suitable test has

been developed and will be tested

alongside the BCG vaccine.

George Eustice, the environment

secretary, said that culling badgers had

reduced TB infections but “no one

wants to continue the cull of this

protected species indefinitely so once

the weight of disease in wildlife has

been addressed, we will accelerate

other elements of our strategy, includ-

ing improved diagnostics and cattle

vaccination to sustain the downward

trajectory of the disease”.

Dominic Dyer, chief executive of the

Badger Trust, said: “After spending an

estimated £60 million of public money

killing over 100,000 badgers in the

largest destruction of a protected

species in living memory, the

government have finally concluded

that the long-term solution to bovine

TB in cattle requires a major focus on

cattle-based disease control measures,

together with both the vaccination of

badgers and cattle against TB.”

Rosie Woodroffe, senior research

fellow at the Zoological Society of

London, said: “This is a seismic shift in

an area of government policy which has

been highly controversial for many

years.”

The National Farmers’ Union argued

that intensive culling of badgers was

still necessary. Stuart Roberts, its

deputy president, said: “Vaccination

has never been demonstrated to reduce

the disease with the same efficacy as

culling; nor has it ever cured an infected

badger.”

Thunderer, page 26

Ben Webster Environment Editor

Glowworm numbers down 75 per cent

Glowworm numbers have fallen by up

to three quarters since 2001 and climate

change is partly to blame, a study has

found.

They are beetles, not worms, and the

soft green glow emitted from the

bottoms of females seeking to attract

mates was once a common sight in

summer in the English countryside.

However, scientists said warmer and

drier weather in spring and summer had

reduced the snails and slugs on which

glowworm larvae prey and increased

the risk of larvae and beetles drying out.

They said neglect of sites had also

contributed to the decline, with glow-

worms struggling to survive on grass-

land that had become overgrown.

Volunteers counted glowing females

at 19 sites in Essex each year between

2001 and 2018 and found about 3.5 per

cent fewer each year.

Tim Gardiner, biodiversity officer at

the Environment Agency and the lead

author, said glowworms were also

glowing earlier in the summer, which

could be due to the earlier arriv-

al of spring.

He said: “As the cli-

mate changes we may

need to consider buff-

ering measures for

glowworms such as

tree planting along

river corridors to

provide shade and

damper habitat dur-

ing droughts.

“Populations can be

lost due to neglect of sites leading them

to become overgrown with scrub and

coppicing and scrub clearance can have

an important part to play in a potent-

ially drier climate.”

Matt Shardlow, chief executive of the

insect charity Buglife, said: “The

glowworm is a fantastic and

enigmatic part of our

natural heritage and it is

essential that steps are

taken to stop the

decline.

“This study makes

it clear that climate

change is now im-

pacting on the species.

The female glowworm

cannot fly, so we need to

reconnect snail-rich habi-

tats to enable glowworms to

escape from climate change”.

Ben Webster Environment Editor

Washed away Leigh Adams lost his entire back garden after flooding

in Bassaleg, south Wales. He and his family are now staying in a hotel

cli-

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glowwo

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it

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cann

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escape from

Female glowworms light

up to try to attract mates