Thursday 29 August 2013

Will culling badgers help prevent bovine TB?

Only infected badgers should be culled and this should be effected in such a way as to reduce any transfer of body fluids.  Any, or all, of the body fluids may be infected.  Shooting badgers will cause infected blood to splatter.  Even worse, wounded badgers leaking body fluids may escape and could cause a rapid spread of the disease.  Its likely the bovine TB problem lies in the soil, that TB is in the soil.  TB is dormant below body temperature but becomes active at body temperature e.g. contact with humans and animals  (cattle, badgers, deer etc.).  The wounded and those with weak immune systems would be the most vulnerable to contracting the disease.