My sister is an animal scientist, therefore I trust her a lot when it comes to animals. In the past six months, badger culls have been constantly thrown back and forth as to whether they would be effective in reducing bovine TB. Badgers only make up a small population of mammals that can carry the infection (pop. ~288,000) whereas there is a large population of deer (pop. unknown) and cats (feral and wild pop. 8.5m) that can carry bovine TB and come in to contact with the cows.
Culling badgers is not the answer, and neither is vaccinating them. Sort out the deer and cats, then start looking at badgers. The poor badgers are a protected species under The Badger Act of 1992. Badgers may not be the cutest (in some people's eyes) or the nicest animal, but they are a national animal. What do MPs have against badgers?
References: BBC, Bovine TB Forum, Binfield Badger Group
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