Life Nature Magazine

NEWS FROM DUSK UNTIL DAWN AUTUMN ISSUE
Badger vaccine
success in Cornwall
A
government-funded badger
vaccination scheme worth £2
million has been granted this month
to prevent the spread of bovine tuberculosis
in the Penwith area of west Cornwall.
This has come as welcome news to nearly
200,000 people who signed an anti-badger
cull petition as well large numbers of
researchers, activists and land owners who
have, for many years, been advocates of
a vaccine over the cull. It has also been
somewhat of a surprise given the recent
culls, ordered by DEFRA, that have begun
in Somerset and Gloucestershire with
another in Dorset planned for next year.
Until recently the favoured course of action
has been controversial culling of badgers
in infected areas; despite extensive studies
failing to show lasting or measurable
TB concluded in 2007 that other than
the systematic or virtual elimination
of badgers over very extensive areas - a
realistically impossible task - culling
actually increases the spread of bTB. Once
most badgers are removed from the cull
area, a new territory is opened up that is
exploited by badgers in surrounding areas.
Immigrant badgers are infected from
abandoned setts and surviving infected
individuals increasing badger-badger and
badger-cattle transmission rates. The lower
badger density means that there is greater
movement than before the cull and the
original infection spreads to a larger area.
As Simon King, President of the Wildlife
Trusts, said in an interview on Newsnight
in 2012, “Badgers are not the enemy
here, bovine Tuberculosis is… The way
of countering it is not to kill badgers,
the way of countering it is to get rid of
bTB through vaccination, both with
the badgers and cattle.” Under current
EU legislation, the vaccination of cattle
against bTB is prohibited as a proportion
of individuals treated with the BCG still
test positive in TB diagnostic tests. This
means they cannot be declared free of the
disease for trading purposes. Although
new diagnostic tests are being developed
and vaccinated individuals, it is likely to
be at least 10 years before any change in
EU legislation will permit any these tests
or any vaccination programmes to be
implemented on cattle.
The Feral Pigeon
Project announces
the launch of
its new app for
Android.
Recently showcased on BBC2’s
hugely popular Winterwatch
show, Adam Rogers founded
the Feral Pigeon Project
with the hope of mapping
the variation in feral pigeon
plumage colours across the
UK.
Most feral animals are
uniform in colour, yet feral
pigeons come in a wide array
of colours - this variation
is thought to be key to this
charismatic bird’s success. He
is asking people to count the
number of pigeons of various
colours and to report them via
the project’s website or with
its new app.
He said, “Pigeons may not be
as glamorous as many of the
exotic animals a person could
choose to study but take the
time to look beneath the
feathers and they’re just as
superbly adapted as any of the
The Feral Pigeon Project has announced the launch of its new app fo
Android TM
Recently showcased on BBC2's hugely popular Winterwatch show, Adam Rogers founded
the Feral Pigeon Project with the hope of mapping the variation in feral pigeon plumage
colours across the UK.
Image: Samuel Shrimpton 2013
The treatment of the European badger
(Meles meles) with regards to bovine
tuberculosis (bTB) has long been a topic of
great debate. For over 30 years it has been
known that the badger may contract and
carry the pathogen responsible for bTB,
Mycobacterium bovis, with a subsequent
enquiries instituted by the government
showing transmission of the disease from
cattle to badgers and, more worryingly for
farmers, from badgers to cattle. The high
level of their interaction with cattle makes
the badger a key species in the eradication
of bTB.
it will need to be carried for at least the
next 6 years at a cost of around £650 per
badger. Not cheap, but with over 30,000
cattle slaughtered throughout the UK in
cost of bTB to the UK taxpayer in the next
decade predicted to be over £1 billion, the
vaccination programme could be worth it
in the long run.
Written by Will Priestley, Alumnus of the
University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus.
Most feral animals are uniform in colour, yet feral pigeons come in a wide array of colours -­‐
The project hopes to uncover
or with its new app.
how pigeons are adapting to
adapted as any of the African big five."
environment, as well as
helping To download to the spark app visit: people’s
this variation is thought to be key to this charismatic bird's success. He is asking people to
count the number of pigeons of various colours and to report them via the project's website
He said, "Pigeons may not be as glamorous as many of the exotic animals a person could
choose to study but take the time to look beneath the feathers and they're just as superbly
The project hopes to uncover how pigeons are adapting to the influence of our urban
environment, as well as helping to spark people's interest in the natural world.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.hiafi.feralpigeon&hl=en_GB
or scan the following QR code:
To download
the app scan:
www.feralpigeonproject.com
www.feralpigeonproject.com
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