Summer 2008

The Problem with Brittan's Badgers

By Doug Lucyshyn

.In 1971, a Gloucestershire farmer found a badger that had died of bovine tuberculosis. The farmer's cattle had been infected with bovine TB and he made a link between the two. Within a few years, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF)began killing Britain's badgers to eradicate this wildlife reservoir of disease. Over the intervening years a number of different measures have been tried to control the disease in cattle byculling badgers. None of these have been entirely successful.
In fact, people have been killing Britain's badgers since medieval times as a source of sport and public entertainment. Although badger baiting was made illegal in 1835, the 'sport' of badger digging remained legal. Badgerdigging, snaring, trapping, poisoning,lamping, shooting and destruction of their setts have been ongoing for centuries. Badger digging continued to be so popular that in the 1960's the badger population was believed to be under threat and in decline.

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