Badgers and bovine tuberculosis.

Badgers are not transmitting bovine tuberculosis (TB) to cattle through contact as the two species are never close proximity, a study has concluded. Over the past 40 years’ research has maintained that badgers have been infecting cattle with TB because of direct contact between the animals. However, the new study has demonstrated that this is not the case and the infection is spread through alternative ways. Scientists tracked hundreds of badgers and cattle using GPS collars on farms in Cornwall. It was found that though badgers spend a lot of time in cattle fields, there was no direct contact between the animals, with badgers preferring to be around 50m away from the cows. It has previously been assumed that cattle need to be in close proximity, around 1.5m, with an infected badger in order to be affected. Bovine TB is a serious issue for farmers to face, with 5,000 new herds diagnosed with the disease in 2014. The research, published in Ecology Letters, suggests that advice given to farmers about how to control the spread of TB may need to be reconsidered in light of the study. One possible route of infection is through badger faeces and urine in the grazing pastures which may leave the TB infection there for months and will explain why infected cows could be passing the disease between themselves. The team, made up of scientists from Imperial College and the Zoological Society of London, have said that vaccinating badgers may be a better way to tackle bovine TB instead of culling. contributed by wired.co.uk