Most
people know that from 1977 on (still occasionally) I am an exotics
wildlife consultant for UK police forces. In that capacity I had to
talk to shooters and game keepers in order to complete reports.
It
was via the conversations that I learn all the ins-and-outs of night
time shooting. It was also from all of this that made me warn,
in the 1990s, that the UK fox population was in decline -in some
areas foxes had not been seen for 6-9 months and once any turning up
were killed ....no more. I asked how they were making their money
then? "Oh, no foxes the rabbit population booms and farmers
don't want that so we shoot a ton of them and present them to the
farmer who can see we've done our job and we get paid."
I
also heard of farmers and estate owners paying "good money to
snuff badgers" To which was added "on the quiet though".
Now why, if these people knew I worked with police forces would they
tell me this? Because they knew private land and no evidence and no
one really interested in investigating meant it was all done scot
free. There are things that I have heard and been told
that concern me.
We
are always given the number of 250,000 badgers having been killed in
culls and after so many years I doubt that figure. Shooters brag
about the cull payments having helped purchase houses and expensive
lifestyles. DEFRA:
"1.3 Costs and
benefits of extending the current approach to a further 11 intensive
culling areas
"Each
new cull area is expected to deliver net benefits of between -£0.49
million and -£0.04 million per area, with a central estimate of
approximately -£0.16 million. This includes costs accrued over 4
years of culling and benefits accrued over 11 years in line with
results from the Randomised Badger Control Trial (RBCT).
"The
future costs to UK government are estimated at £0.33 million per
area over 4 years.
"Previous
versions of the VfM analysis included costs incurred by farmers who
are prepared to use their own money to fund culls. These have not
been available for this and the previous version of the VfM analysis
and are therefore excluded.
"The
total monetised benefits are estimated to be around £0.01 million
and £0.29 million per area over eleven years, with a central
estimate of £0.16 million. This is based on the results of
the RBCT."
They
like to say benefits and give percentages to hide things as officials
always do. How much does
bovine TB cost the government?
"bTB eradication costs UK
taxpayers around £150
million per annum, with additional costs falling to the
cattle industry. More information can be found at TB hub - Bovine
TB Advice & Tuberculosis Information for Cattle Farmers."
One
shooter bemoaned the fact that "You get nothing for the
nippers (cubs)"
Badgers
in the UK are recognised by zoologists across Europe and elsewhere
as "scapegoat species". Protected in 1971 and not long
after "kill them!" So people are making good money and
there is very limited financial burden on the farmer. Remember that
badger clans that have been monitored for years with no sign of TB
in tests and nowhere near cattle were also slaughtered.
The
figure of 250,000 does not include many cubs -bodies are bagged up
and disposed of. Watching the talk online and hearing back from
other interested parties I was told by one that "People don't
care. The badger huggers would shit a brick -250k is a laugh!"
So how many seems to be a likely number?
300,000
which
is far over half the badger population and we have no idea how many
cubs because "they don't count". If we consider that an
estimated 100,000 die on UK roads then it can be seen that the UK
badger population is on its way to extinction -which it avoided
after centuries of hunting. Yes, hunting never killed off badgers
when they were not protected but as a protected species they are
being openly slaughtered.
Now
we know that the UK government and politicians in voting farmers
pockets have declared badgers are to be eradicated (exterminated)
from large areas of England. Where are the protests -perhaps the
latest Eastenders plot is a bit too
gripping for asses to leave seats?
We
are seeing foxes heading for extinction (again) and badgers along
with them. Are the "animal loving British public"
seriously just going to sit there and let two more species go
extinct like others also on the verge?
Yes.
I
called the UK "The Blood Red Island" because it has seen
species -birds, mammals, fish- all go extinct and even those
brought to the UK to 'reintroduce' the species are being killed
off. A pro hunt government fishing for votes and more has led our
wildlife to extinction road and they don't care because they are
only in it for the money.
Sit
on your asses and watch TV or the internet and don't worry your
vacant little minds over it -there will still be pizza and beer.
I am sorry to say that after a number of years a line has been crossed that, in my opinion, shows that Secret World, Somerset, does not live up to what it claims:
Our vision
To prevent British wildlife suffering needlessly and inspire in everyone an understanding and love of wildlife and the countryside.
I have tried repeatedly to get cooperation going with them but it seems that a very bad attitude and stance to other rescuers or wildlife workers began at some point and rudeness and pettiness are common place.
I was told some 2-3 years ago that someone telephoned Secret World about a fox with a leg injury. That person was told: "We would have to trap it and policy is any leg injury the animal is put to sleep (PTS". I was asked if that was right but supposed the person had misunderstood.
About a week later someone else contacted me about a fox with a leg injury. They had telephoned Secret World and was told: "We would have to trap it and policy is any leg injury the animal is put to sleep (PTS."
A couple of months later my brother visited and knows little about the fox work but mentioned that there was a vixen that came into their garden and it had an injured twisted leg. They contacted Secret World. Guess what Secret World told him? "We would have to trap it and policy is any leg injury the animal is put to sleep (PTS." incidentally, that vixen has had a couple of litters and she still has the deformed leg but keeps even her adult offspring in their place.
Obviously I had to see what was going on and so I telephoned Secret World and stated that I had a fox with a bad limp visiting my garden (I didn't of course). "We would have to trap it and policy is any leg injury the animal is put to sleep (PTS." So I asked "What if it's just a pulled muscle or bad sprain?" The reply, and absolutely no mishearing: "It would be put down. Any leg injuries that is standard operating policy". It was confirmed to my own ears.
Months later I had a fox visit the garden with severe mange and it looked very unwell. SW actually did send someone and I showed him the photos I had taken of the fox so he could see its condition and explained that with temperatures to drop to -4 in the next day or so it needed catching to treat or whatever. "Ah, we have a trap but it might attract attention so we won't try to trap it" and that was ridiculous as to get to my house you have to walk along a quiet lane and my back garden is enclosed on all sides. I was given about 6 small (saccharine sized) tablets and told "give it these and let nature take its course" and with that he, and the younger fella with him walked off. The fox died.
Constantly Secret World were telling people that their fox pens were up to capacity (word from people working there stated there were no foxes at the centre) and that they had one ambulance stationed at Bridgewater so could not help. This was repeated to me by someone in the last couple of weeks who (apart from being very insulting about my work) told me "We have one ambulance in Bridgewater which is where it is stationed if you understand" and the call back from this person was equally pointless.
A man had a fox visiting his garden that was fairly inactive and had laboured breathing and he contacted Secret World who told him that they could not help. End of story. He managed to find the Bristol Fox Lady, Sarah Mills' details and along with Fox Angels Foundation it was decided to treat it for 5 days then trap and take to Vale Wildlife in Oxfordshire which was a long journey but Secret World was not an option. The treatment worked and the fox has now recovered fully.
It was only in 2021 that another wildlife rescue asked what part of the country I was in and when I told them the response was "Oh, the PTS Centre is your local one" and I actually defended Secret World. Then checking on some things with other wildlife centres I found they all referred to Secret World as "The PTS Centre" and that any fox going there was not going to live long.
This was all raising concerns. Sarah Mills is a competent trained rescuer and has had call outs from Secret World yet no one contacted her to tell her about the foxes that needed checking on. They were quite happy for foxes to suffer and die. That was unbelievable. I knew the centre when its founder Pauline Kidner was in charge and wildlife was a priority.
Despite asking Secret World to cooperate in the Bristol Fox and Badger death projects and other fox work since 2019 they have refused. There is also something I was very unhappy with and that is that Secret World asked that any fox bought in have a note from a vet stating that it could be put down. THAT shocked me.
Then we had fundraising using a dead fox. No joke.
Sarah Mills had rescued a fox and the vet that saw it recommended that it needed a few days recuperation having just had a piece of broken cooked bone stuck in its gum. We were told, this was a Bristol Fox Project fox submitted, the fox was doing fine on Friday. On Saturday "It's been put down for neurological reasons". A shock but then even getting the fox to submit it for a post mortem was fraught with refusal by Secret World to cooperate but we got it in the end.
Now, imagine seeing, SEVEN days after the fox was allegedly PTS the photo of the same fox and a post on Secret Worlds Face Book page telling how greatly they were treating the fox that 'they' rescued and it was currently recovering in a nice warm pen. Yes; the dead fox was alive and well and recovering so...what fox had we submitted? I asked Secret World if this was a mix up in foxes and explained that the fox shown they had told us was put down and now awaiting post mortem? No response so I made the point and asked the question on the FB page itself where people had donated to take care of the fox. Later in the day the post was taken down. No apology. No explanation. Luckily I had supplied the pathologist with enough case details to confirm the fox that underwent post mortem was ours.
There is much more but how bad does a supposed wildlife rescue have to sink to be known by others around the country as the "PTS Centre"??
And now we come to the final straw. On the 27th March a disabled woman phoned Secret World as a vixen had obviously been unable to get to anywhere safe and had cubs under an exposed garden table. The area was flooded and the woman explained the situation but was told the fox would take one cub at a time and jump over the fence to get them to safety. Despite it sounding like the vixen was utterly exhausted Secret World told the woman to leave her side gate open for the fox to exit. This was a vulnerable person who was expected to leave her gate open overnight. Secret World was not interested and, again, did not even suggest the lady contact Sarah Mills.
Today, 28th, Sarah visited the site and the vixen looked weak and had two living cubs near her (we hope they survive the night) and further away from the vixen three others dead...until one squeaked. Sarah checked and then revived the cub and is currently feeding the weak cub before taking it to an actual wildlife centre, The Vale in Oxfordshire. The table has been covered as best as could be and we wait to see how the vixen and surviving cubs do but the outlook for the cubs is not good.
The death of these cubs is squarely on Secret World's hands. They refused to offer any help and even knowing that Sarah was on call all day refused to give out her phone number. That is not what a genuine wildlife rescue does.
The following are photographs of the scene that met Sarah and the cub she managed to revive. Believe me, I have had to severely restrict the language I want to use.
I spoke with Sarah this morning and the cub woke up for food every three hours, peed and poo'd then went back to sleep. Had it not make that tiny squeak when the other two were being put into a plastic carrier for disposal then it would not now be on its way to Vale Wildlife Hospital which is further than Secret World but at least we know it will be safe and looked after.
During the night the vixen vanished for two hours which led the the thought that the two out of five left had also died. However, on checking the vixen had taken the two cubs after what must have been a stressful birth. Incidentally, the lady whose garden this took place in was told by Secret World that the side gate had to be left open as "foxes cannot jump or climb over fences"! That is the most stupid remark I have heard from a supposed rescue on foxes -foxes are known to climb trees, they get up on garage and even house rooves.
As it stands vixen has the two largest cubs, Vale will soon have one and two were lost.
Photos taken at the scene; the first is the sight that greeted Sarah on arrival three dead cubs soaked and cold -one, however was clinging on to life and only appeared dead.
(c)2024 Sarah Mills/Bristol Fox Lady
(c)2024 Sarah Mills/Bristol Fox Lady
A cat litter tray and some old blankets were put under the exposed table for vixen and remaining two cubs to keep them out of the flooded ground. Tarpaulin was then put over the table to keep out the worst of the weather.
(c)2024 Sarah Mills/Bristol Fox Lady
The sad sight of the two cubs that did not make it.
(c)2024 Sarah Mills/Bristol Fox Lady
Below the third cub was thought to be dead but as it was picked up for disposal it squeaked and was revived.
Badgers certainly do get mange, its not as common as in foxes but we do
see it.
Historically we have treated with Ivermectin for badgers admitted
to the hospital we inject them with ivermectin 2 doses 7 days apart, or
for treating on site we mixed in with some honey but there must be certainty
that the badger can be target fed and also if it is mange then most likely the
whole sett will have it so treatment of all the badgers correctly and
separately will be impossible.
You can use Bravecto or credelio tablets both
treat mange again must be dosed correctly in food.
In foxes we have given when
they are lactating but never badgers so we would not know if this is safe to do
so.
"Badgers
have fleas and lice that have co-evolved alongside badgers, so cannot
survive off of a badger. They may also carry ticks, which are known
to spread Lyme's Disease. In some areas with a high density, of
badgers, mange could be transmitted, however it's
not very common for badgers to suffer from mange."
And that is a line still put out today but I have been seeing a few cases of badgers with mange and that mainly because I monitor what goes on regionally and nationally. The big problem in dealing with wildlife health is getting the information. In the UK it has proven impossible to get research papers related to foxes and badgers as you must belong to a university, college or recognised organisation. Doesn't matter if you are a mammalogist who has spent 50 years running a study on foxes or 40 years on wild cats; you are not getting into that magic club!
A point is the following from a paper published in 2010 and, of course, access is blocked.
Sarcoptic
mange in badgers in the UK by
Collins, R; Wessels, M E; Wood, R; Couper, D; Swift,
A in . The
Veterinary Record; London Vol. 167, Iss. 17,
(Oct 23, 2010):668. DOI:10.1136/vr.c5672
“WE
would like to report the identification of sarcoptic mange in badgers
(Meles meles ) from south-west England.
“An
adolescent female badger was received for postmortem examination,
following the deaths of four other badgers in the same locality over
a two-week period. All the affected badgers were suspected to be from
the same sett. The first four animals to die were described as thin,
with areas of hair loss and abnormal-looking skin, although this was
not confirmed by veterinary or laboratory examination.
“The
badger received was in poor condition, weighing 4.2 kg. There was
severe thickening of the skin, showing varying degrees of alopecia,
crusting and scaling over 90 per cent of the body surface,
particularly affecting the flanks, ears and hindlegs ( Fig 1 ). Areas
of suppuration were noted between the thickened folds of skin. A
superficial lymphadenopathy was present. Examination of a skin
scraping revealed the presence of numerous mites with the morphology
of Sarcoptes scabiei .”
As I write even though this paper is from 2010 as a naturalist I cannot get
access to it. The “magic club” does not allow access to such
papers even if you are a “citizen scientist” -yet I can get
recent technical papers from the United States and Europe. This is
why education on wildlife as well as research is hindered because the
“great unwashed” are not allowed to view. To those who do allow free access to research papers Thank you.
But
if mange was reported in 2010 why is it everyone is still insisting
mange in badgers is “rarely seen”? Ahem: “not allowed to know”
and that makes it hard for wildlife rescuers. I know of a badger treated for mange in the Peak District (Northern England) and other parts of England so it is not that rare and there may be many factors as to why we have seen badger mange since the 2000s.
Above (c)2024 Kate Hennessy
An article in New scientist is of particular interest and well worth a read.
Humans spread more viruses to other animals than they give to us
Michael Le Page
"Animals such as rats are often regarded as disease carriers. But when it comes to the spreading of illnesses, it turns out other animals have more reason to fear us than we them.
"An analysis of viral genomes has found that when viruses move between humans and other animals, in 64 per cent of cases it is humans infecting other animals – rather than the reverse.
“We give more viruses to animals than they give to us,” says Cedric Tan at University College London. For instance, after the SARS-CoV-2 virus jumped from bats to humans, possibly via another species, humans passed it on to many other species.
"Tan and his colleagues have been using a global database of sequenced viruses to study how they jump between species. There are nearly 12 million sequences in the database, but many are incomplete or lack data on when they were collected and from what host species.
"So the researchers narrowed down the 12 million to roughly 60,000 high quality sequences with full accompanying data. They then created “family trees” for related viruses.
"Altogether, they identified nearly 13,000 viral lineages and 3000 jumps between species. Of the 599 jumps involving humans, most were from humans to other animals rather than vice versa.
"The team wasn’t expecting this, but in retrospect it makes sense, says Tan. “Our population size is huge. And our global distribution is basically everywhere.”
"In other words, a virus spreading among humans will have numerous opportunities to jump to many other species all around the world, whereas a virus circulating in a non-human species that is limited to one region will have far fewer opportunities."
Someone wrote: "Hmm , makes me wonder about mange in foxhounds … widespread dog excrement in the countryside, carrying TB etc … kept in kennels, multi-dog situations and ability to spread disease extensively throughout woodland and farmland …. putting heads into dens etc. There are 220 registered fox hound packs, god knows how many beagles … UK cattle population in filthy living conditions and across fields , cow muck spread on everything…. Run off into rivers …."
And, of course, all of that can be checked by people on the internet and remember that hunts do not notify authorities if any of their hounds or horse contract bTB -they just get hauled out into a yard and inhumanely shot (and there is video footage of that -some of it making the national news). The countryside is far from pristine as it used to be in the period up to the 1990s.
Above (c)2024 GG
Dog walkers and humans in general are spreading things around the countryside and about 15 years ago I wrote how some park wardens were complaining about the amount of vegetation being killed off by dogs urinating all over an area and the problem of dog faeces was another problem considering what they contain and that spreads out.
Above (c)2024 Louise Powell-HillsYou may well give your dog wormer treatment as well as something for ticks and fleas but they can still carry them until they drop off and attached to another animal. It may well be what is happening with badgers and mange; I have reference books on wildlife going back to the late 18th century onward and in not one is mange mentioned in badgers. They are described as meticulously clean and the only time mange is mentioned is with imported foxes (something else to thank hunts for). We do know hedgehogs can get mange and, again, these are mainly ones in urban areas where there are lots of pet dogs and cats.
The other factor could well be population stress leading to greater susceptibility. The current government plan is to exterminate entire badger populations in England based on the inept and faulty (I do not like to use the word but) 'science'. Over 250,000 badgers have so far been killed and that includes badgers known (and tested) to be TB free. There are illegal badger killings but authorities tend to turn a blind eye to that unless publicly embarrassed. And then we have an estimated 100,000 badgers a year killed on roads. That puts breeding populations under stress and we know that a population of animals under stress suffer health issues.
We can treat badgers just as hedgehogs with mange are treated and I am waiting for a wildlife hospital to give me specifics that I can post here. I was told by one wildlife rescue:
"Any animal that needs medical treatment however will need to be brought into a rehabilitation centre or trapped in a crush for medical intervention I'd assume due to needing a veterinary surgeon to prescribe the medication needed. The laws on treating wildlife has been altered in the last year or two."
Yes, mainly "if it's wildlife kill it" (that is a subject for another post). A few wildlife rescues are now treating animals such as foxes in situ because treatment tends to work better when foxes are not trapped (stressed) and then held in a cage at a rescue (stress). How do we know treating foxes with mange works better in situ? Because it is being done in Bristol and other parts of the country. I have seen a fox that previously the local wildlife people would have put down even though it looked alert, was eating and its body condition was fine but no fur; treated on site it is now looking even better and is growing back fluffy fur. And there are other "put to sleep" condition foxes given meds and treated on site that have recovered.
When it comes to a badger with mange then it needs to be treated on site. It can be awkward but you should not expect wildlife work to be easy. Lactating sows you need to treat carefully and I hope that the wildlife hospital can advise even though I note people have posted on how they are treating mange in badgers we need professional advice. The same applies to hedgehogs of course.
I have not been able to contact some of those whose photos/screenshots I have used but would like to say THANK YOU as these are good photographic records of badgers in various states of mange.
I posted this out today because in all honesty I feel like I have wasted five years of effort and energy:
With a combined membership of over 6000 I have tried to interest members of the Bristol Naturalist Society and Bristol Nature Network for over 5 years to become involved in active field work, take part in and help with the fox and badger work and apart from a few "Likes" nothing. I have updated on the Fox Deaths Project as well as the Fox and Badger death registers. Nothing.
An editorial in Nature (06 04 2014) is titled Natural decline Nature 508,
pages7–8 (2014) reads in part:
volume
"Few biology degrees still feature natural history. Is the naturalist a species in crisis?
"What has become of the naturalists of yesteryear — the vicar with the magnifying glass and pressed flower collection, or the gentleman scientist with butterfly nets and a shotgun? Those dedicated observers of the natural world in all its complexity are still among us. But they are harder to pick out now; they are men and women, students and citizens. And they clutch not sample jars but smartphones.
"In an article published late last month (J. J. Tewksburyet al.BioSciencehttp://doi.org/r5g;2014), Joshua Tewksbury, a naturalist and director of the Luc Hoffmann Institute at the conservation group WWF in Gland, Switzerland, and 16 colleagues issue a call to arms. They chronicle the dismaying diminution of support for natural history — that branch of science that encompasses the careful observation and description of organisms and their relations to their environments. Like all good scientists, they offer the data to support their assertion."
Well unless it is for a handy social media "Like" photo I am afraid that the smart phones are not a great new asset. I set up the Ashton Vale and Bristol Wildlife Group in 1994 having moved to an area that Avon Wildlife had designated a "wildlife deprivation zone" and on my very first night I observed low flying barn owls, a brace of fox walking along the road, three hedgehogs -one being the largest I had ever seen, field mice as well as many insects and moths. Over the next week I began cataloguing the local wildlife. I seeded wild flowers and other plants despite opposition from locals who wanted "none of that rubbish". I counted 22 species of wild bird visiting the garden and I have never stopped observing and recording because that is what a naturalist does.
Calls put out regarding dead and injured badgers in the area back in 1994 (after the old badger group had become defunct) received no responses and so I set up the Bristol Badger Group cataloguing badger activity in and around the City. This while starting and asking for assistance in various projects. The absolute silence was deafening. It still is.
Otters, foxes, badgers, hedgehogs and all other wildlife I shall continue to work and report on but for me the BNS and BNN has been of little help while lost and found pet pages offer far more help and information.
As of today I am therefore leaving both groups to continue my work, the work I have now spent 50 years on and will continue to do until the long box arrives.
People keep talking about wild boar and "how aggressive they are" which is utter bilge.
What they mean is that stupid humans refuse to accept that they need to keep their distance from a wild animal. Even in parts of the world where there are fines and warning signs idiots with phone cams have to get closer to "the big fluffy".
Darwin Award winners.
When I lived in Germany spent a lot of time in forestry. We were country boys so "wald kind" (forest kids). As an adult I was walking through the dark forest and felt something odd beneath my feet. I looked down and had stepped on the outer part of a boars nest. A boars nest with young in it. A boars nest with young in it and 30 feet away was momma hog.
Cold sweat does not cover it. I realised that I was interfering in her territory and her young were nearby. So I kept my eyes on momma and slowly moved back and away from the nest and once I got out into the light and she had not charged me I could breath a little easier.
In this case I had done what I was always taught to do. I kept my eye on the boar and moved away slowly showing that I was no threat to her young -though animals can sense if you are a threat. I had no way of avoiding her had she charged as the tree trunks had no low hanging branches I could reach.
The point is that if you leave them alone they leave you alone. In Hong Kong, one of the world's most populated cities, it is not unusual to see boar walking around and you will see humans and boar passing each other and not even looking at one another.
If you go into the countryside or woodland just remember it is not YOUR home it is THEIRS.
photo wild boar in Hong Kong (c)2024 respective copyright owner
The Bristol Naturalist Society has had one of its members delete their own comment (regardinbg this post) as "it was political" and for me the BNS has done f-- all to help the various groups around Bristol.
I expect to have my response deleted at which point I shall point out they are cowards and leave.
"I'm sorry but we are being nonsensical here about politics. The badger -thanks to the legislation pushed and upgraded by the current political party has resulted in 250,000 badger deaths and no change in Bovine TB.; Even badgers that were tested for years and were nowhere near cattle were killed as part of the cull.
"Badgers are facing extinction -the yearly losses on top of the culls which it has been officially declared is the eradicate badgers from large portions of the country is something that as naturalists we HAVE to address.
"It doesn't matter what party is in power the purpose of a naturalist is to observe and record everything from fungi to mammals, birds and plants and over the last 20 years this has included the need to campaign and fight for conservation of native species and habitat. All of the campaigning going on around Bristol to preserve woodland and green spaces that are rich in wildlife I have not seen an official open support from the BNS for.
"We are at a crisis point with native habitat and wildlife and if someone says "Well, Labour have said they will stop the cull if they get into power" then that is a statement of fact that we, as naturalists should welcome. I understand large mammals such as badgers and foxes as well as otters are not of that much interest -just go over my posts on this page asking for assistance, etc., but they are a vital part of the eco system.
"I absolutely hate politics but it affects every aspect of our lives -we have 1.2K members here so why are we not joining the various save green space groups or meeting on College Green to protest at the cull and loss of habitat?"
" I would like to think that in 30 years time there will still be badgers and foxes but I doubt there will be. And there is even talk of moving culls into more urban areas.
"Where do we stand? What do we do? Sit back and wait for wildlife extinction?"
This article was forwarded to me and I think it might help more than a few people confused over the attempted badger extinction initiative and Bovine TB. Please help by supporting The Badger Crowd and making your MP aware of your stance regarding the cull.
According to TB HuB (the home of UK TB information), the
Bovine TB Partnership comprises members with “extensive experience and expertise
in the farming industry, private veterinary profession, non-government
organisations, academia, local authorities, and government.” It
is managed by Defra and has ‘Member organisations’ including the Animal and
Plant Health Agency (APHA), National Farmers Union, the British Cattle
Veterinary Association, the British Veterinary Association and Natural England.
In recent weeks vet Dick Sibley and others have left the
partnership, frustrated at lack of progress, and suggesting that anything not
central to Defra’s agenda is not welcome.
Dick Sibley is well known as arguably the foremost English
‘coalface’ veterinary worker on bovine tuberculosis management, in Devon
and beyond. He qualified as a vet from Bristol University Veterinary School in
1977 and has been in veterinary practice ever since, and he runs West Ridge
Veterinary Practice based in Witheridge, in Mid Devon.
His X/Twitter biography describes him as “Veterinary surgeon working with
cattle and other farm animals, hoping to make their lives better &
healthier so that they can make our lives better & healthier”.
Dick is dedicated to the care of cattle, with particular
expertise in the management of infectious diseases. He has an Honorary
Fellowship, awarded for his work with BSE (bovine
spongiform encephalopathy), Foot and Mouth disease and
Tuberculosis. He is National Secretary and President of the British Cattle
Veterinary Association. He has a range of awards; RABDF Princess Anne Dairy
Award, the RASE Bledisloe Cup, Honorary Life Membership BCVA, and Dairy
Industry Award 2006 for veterinary services to the cattle industry.
Until recently, he was also a member of the government’s ‘Bovine
Tuberculosis Partnership’. Towards the end of February 2024 however, it was
reported in the farming press that Dick Sibley and another member had been
removed from the partnership, and a third quietly resigned. Although it was
originally envisaged in 2021 that the partnership would produce useful
summaries of their work and make them publicly available, no insight into the thinking of the
group has been forthcoming. It has been a closed shop. For the
public and interested parties, there has been no insight at all, a huge
disappointment considering its role and potential pivotal importance.
In short, the
BTB partnership has been a failure. There are even gagging
clauses on partnership members speaking publicly without approval.
Shortly after he left the Bovine TB Partnership Dick Sibley started posting on X (formerly
Twitter) about his experiences and his posts offer interesting insight both
into the problems faced and the workings of the so-called partnership.
By way of introduction to his long social media thread, Sibley
pointed out:
“The 3 counties of Cornwall, Devon and
Dorset have 7,989 cattle herds and generate 33% of new herd incidents of bovine
TB in England. At the end of September 2023. these 3 counties had 652
herds not officially TB free (OTF). (Down from 1011 in 2018, but up from 627 in
2021). I repeatedly mentioned this to the partnership. And got sacked. I guess
if you don’t like the message, shoot the messenger.”
So, does Dick Sibley think that the current bTB policy is
working well? He says:
“To get the country OTF by 2038 as pledged
by DEFRA, I understand we need to get 99.9% of herds tb free for 6 years. In
the 3 counties with current herds, that’s just 8 herds still non OTF by 2032. I
don’t think that is possible doing what we are currently doing.”
The answer then, is no, he does not think Defra will achieve OTF
status by 2038.
The reason behind this is that the current testing system -
largely based on SICCT (the single
intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin test) and gamma testing
- obviously leaves many infected animals in the herd that could only be found
with a wider suite of tests, with local management of each unique farm
circumstance needed to finish the job.
For that reason, the current system is doomed to failure as
amply demonstrated in painful slow-motion across the Republic of Ireland over
decades. Testing needs to be constant and not confined to the current routine.
Additional/supporting PCR/qPCR (polymerase chain reaction/quantitative
real-time PCR) tests in particular. Use of Actiphage for pre-movement
herd testing is the single essential action that would curtail disease spread
rapidly, even if triggering a new national herd management strategy for
diseased herds.
Why would Defra not want to look too closely at embedded
infection? Perhaps too many reactors means too much compensation (too much
money) seems the most likely explanation. It appears financially uneconomic,
and more politically expedient to sit on?
Does Sibley think that the bTB partnership of which he has been
a member is a helpful and functioning working group, producing & collating
useful and relevant science? He says:
“.. for the past 3 years I have sat
dutifully listening to unrealistic ideas on how we are going to replace badger
culling with vaccination, BCG the cows and keep testing and killing. Short,
truncated discussions on the pros and cons. That’s not a partnership, it’s an
audience.”
Again, it looks like the answer is no. It sounds as if there was
little engagement with the specialist expertise invited to attend. What does
Sibley say about whether he believes badgers are an important source of cattle
infection? He says:
“We have tried really hard here in the
South West: started culling badgers in 2016 and peaked in 2018: 90% of the area
of the 3 counties culling by 2021. More testing, more gamma, more killing, more
restrictions and yet 892 herds lost their OTF status last year. Is that
success? Of those 892 new herd incidents, most of them weren’t new. They were
recurrences of established infections. We used to blame the badgers, but we
have now killed most of them. So, as many of us suspected, they are more likely
due to undetected residual infections within the herd.”
So, Dick Sibley is concluding that repeat infections are most
likely due to
undetected cattle infections. Sibley has usefully drawn
attention to one of the more irrational of Defra’s many rules and restrictions;
you can only test cattle for bTB if they are OTF. He says:
“Trouble is that the permission to test
can only be given to herds that are not OTF! As soon as they go clear with a
couple of clear skin tests, we can’t use any additional testing. Not even an
extra skin test between the six-monthly routines. Endemic infection resurfaces.
Nuts.”
There is more in Sibley’s threads: how Michael Gove became
engaged in the issue, how that led to the Godfray Review (of the bTB policy),
how Defra responded to set up the TB Partnership. But the partnership does not
get a good account from Sibley:
“We listened, no decisions. Three quarters
of the time taken up with presentations, then truncated discussions through
lack of time. The rooms got smaller and smaller and tech more dysfunctional.
Covid didn’t help. Frustrating”.
Frustration seems perhaps to be the overriding outcome of the
partnership. Sibley writes frankly:
“I asked for targets, objectives, Key
Performance Indicators. What was success? Could we have some radical thinking?
Ok, maybe I was a bit mouthy. We were told about current policy and plans:
phasing out of culling, phasing in of vaccination. But what about the big gap
between the two? How could this work?
Task and finish groups did some great
work: I co-chaired one on improving testing sensitivity. Brave of them to ask
me! Our good group put in hours of constructive discussion and research to produce
a detailed report. Radical but realistic. Where is it now? Wasted.
That report even led to a full day
workshop held at the APHA site at Weybridge. I really thought that this would
do some good and make a difference. A good day of real discussion and proper
time spent on difficult issues. Nothing came of it.”
Dick Sibley goes on to cite an interesting case study:
“A small organic herd of red Devon beef
sucklers: set up about 10 years ago. Before stocking the 200 acres of rolling
Devon grassland, constructs 7km of badger and deer proof fencing. 2” mesh
buried 40cm into the ground and going to 6ft+. Even Steve McQueen couldn’t get
out.
The herd went down with Tb in 2019, 3
years after being established in its colditz. I got involved in 2021 and
started enhanced testing to see what was going on. We SICCt every 60 days in
accordance with rules, and then privately gamma, Idexx and phage 3 or 4 times
yearly.
Of the 101 cattle that we have tested in
the last 3 years, 42 have left the herd as reactors (either SICCT or gamma) and
40 have been designated high risk due to a positive result on another test
type. 7 more were gamma positive last week. There is significant age
clustering.
We have got 4 day old calves testing
positive for antibody! They didn’t make that themselves, they got it from the
colostrum. But mothers tested negative. The offspring of some test negative
cows (but designated high risk) have all gone as reactors. We suspect mother –
calf”.
So despite cattle being reliably isolated from potential
wildlife infection, the embedded cattle infection persists.
Sibley’s thread finishes with:
“For those hunting the tb solution, be
patient and manage your expectations. There is no simple solution. And for
those campaigning for [badger] culling, just take a quick look at ibTB map. My
patch is the squares with 61 and 59 in. That’s after 5 years of [badger]
culling. Disappointing.”
For those with more than a passing interest, it is worth reading
SIbley’s thread in its entirety. If nothing else, it may be the only window
into the workings of the bTB partnership that those not actually in it will
ever get.
Defra and APHA’s secret world of policy failure. Not so much a
partnership as a captive audience of those who need Defra’s support in many
ways and will not contradict them for personal and organisations reasons.
Gagged to the outside world. It really stinks.
The Badger Crowd is a grassroots support and
fundraising coalition including Badger Groups and Trusts around the UK, the
public and a range of charities and funds. The Badger Crowd believes that legal
challenges are an important fight, not just for the badger but also for the
future of our countryside and the farming industry. The bovine TB badger cull
policy is failing farmers, taxpayers and our precious wildlife and is allowing
the bTB epidemic to spread and cause hardship and misery to a wide range of
people across the country.
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