SO the controversial badger cull now moves into action. I cannot help but to think that based on a scale of 'cuteness' and 'cuddliness' and therefore a right to longevity of life, we have created within the animal kingdom a hierarchy that places creatures such as hedgehogs, otters and badgers near the top end of this scale whilst the likes of rats, mice and now topically, wild boar, hover around the low end.

If it had in fact been proven that wild boar had been responsible for the transmission of bovine TB I wonder what the reaction would then have been towards targeting a cull towards them. I suspect that any reaction against such a cull would be far less in opposition rather than that towards badgers and I would further suspect that any support for the cull would be in favour of the visual damage that these creatures cause rather than the hidden threat of transmission of pathogens.

There is discussion of vaccines, however, it cannot be disputed that an effective cull stops the transmission of undesirable disease at source. Effective vaccines do not grow on trees, they demand lengthy and detailed research that includes animal experimentation.

It may be years before such a vaccine can be approved and licensed for use, Funding for vaccine research is substantial and any commercial pharmaceutical company would hope to recoup their expenditure should their product become licensed. A previously infected creature does not become immunised following the administration of a vaccine and therefore still presents a risk.

Nature can have an unfortunate tendency to fight back at unwanted interference as has been demonstrated by the appearance of mutated pathogen strains in MRSA and C.difficile.

However, it is certainly a possibility that administration of a suitable vaccine could render future badger populations immune to bovine TB, but should the farming industry, so vital to our daily requirements be expected to just wait and see if there is a positive result when in the knowledge that previous culls have met with success, something can be achieved now?

– Interested, St Briavels.