Badgers And Disease

Badgers And Disease



In the 1960's, when the number of beef cattle with TB had been decreased to very reduced numbers, it was discovered that grades of TB in beef cattle in components of the south-west were higher than elsewhere. The then Ministry of Agriculture or MAFF (now DEFRA) resolved that the beef cattle in those localities were not just getting the infection from other cattle. They supposed that there were other causes (or "reservoirs") of TB in those localities, and started to check other animals to glimpse if they had the disease. In April 1971, a dead badger ...