Badgers

House of Lords written question – answered at on 10 January 2005.

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Photo of The Countess of Mar The Countess of Mar Crossbench

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many badgers killed on the roads have been examined since the start of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs project in this area; and how many animals have been found to be infected with bovine tuberculosis in which regions.

Photo of Lord Whitty Lord Whitty Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) (Food, Farming and Sustainable Energy)

The table below shows the number of badger carcases collected, and post-mortemed, by county as part of the Road Traffic Accident survey, up to 30 November 2004.

County Number of carcases collected Number of carcases post-mortemed
Cornwall 607 458
Devon 633 559
Dorset 211 177
Gloucestershire 939 799
Herefordshire 297 234
Shropshire 174 143
Worcestershire 275 227
Total 3,136 2,597

This data was drawn from Defra's Wildlife Unit Badger Trial database on 10 December 2004.

Note: The Badger Trial database is a new system and reconciliation of data with the previous system is still ongoing. Therefore data provided is provisional and subject to change as a result of this process.

The Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB advises that the results of the post-mortem should not be disclosed at present to avoid either encouraging illegal action against badgers or deterring participation in the badger culling trial. However, information on the location of badgers where TB is diagnosed is released to divisional veterinary managers to inform the measures they take with respect to disease control in cattle in the vicinity.

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