The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has captured and vaccinated 5,046 badgers against tuberculosis (TB) to date this year.
In 2023, some 9,062 badgers were captured in vaccination areas by staff contracted by the department.
These figures show a significant increase since the rollout of badger vaccination in 2019, when 1,937 animals were captured in vaccination areas.
Badgers
In addition to vaccination, badger culling continues to take place across areas where there is a high prevalence of TB at levels similar to those prior to the introduction of vaccination.
On average, approximately 5,500 badgers are culled year on year. There were 5,462 badgers culled in these areas in 2023 and 2,451 culled to date in 2024.
The department has allocated €7,950,000 under the bovine TB eradication programme in 2024 to wildlife control to be spent on badger vaccination and culling.
Last year, DAFM spent €7,674,580 on the wildlife programme, which included the wages of the trained contracted staff, transport costs, stopped body restraints, sedatives and vaccines.
There are currently 148 trained staff contracted to the department to operate the wildlife programme.
These staff are managed and directed by DAFM technical staff, with input from DAFM veterinary inspectors required to examine and vaccinate badgers.
“As with all large organisations staff vacancies arise from time to time due. Recruitment and replacement is managed on an on-going basis by DAFM HR working closely with the public appointments service,” a DAFM spokesperson told Agriland.
DAFM
Meanwhile, DAFM is offering funding for research on the role of badgers in the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB).
As part of the department’s 2024 Policy and Strategic Studies Research Call (PSSRC) there are three possible research projects related to bTB listed under the animal health and welfare theme.
The PSSRC seeks to engage experienced researchers in the development of high-quality research proposals linked to key strategic policy objectives for the agri-food, forest and bio-based sector.
The department is offering a budget of up to €250,000 for researchers to carry out a two-year study of badger movement and use of habitat “to unravel their role in the spread of bovine tuberculosis in Ireland”.
A similar budget is being offered for another project to simulate badger population dynamics and changes to bTB risk in a multi-host management system.