Derbyshire Wildlife Trust are vaccinating badgers across the county against Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in a bid to convince the Government that vaccination is far more effective and ethical than the badger cull.  

Ruth George, Labour MP for High Peak in Derbyshire, said, “I am very pleased to support Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s badger vaccination pilot. It is important that the pilot is enabled to run its course and be fully assessed as a humane, far cheaper and hopefully effective alternative to culling badgers.  The Labour Party oppose the badger cull which is expensive, uses a lot of very scarce police resources and causes huge disruption to communities and farmers.”

Vaccinations will continue throughout the summer and autumn and Derbyshire Wildlife Trust is keen to hear from any landowners who would like them to vaccinate badgers on their land. Culling badgers can cause Bovine TB to increase in an area where badgers are shot according to scientific studies in what is known as the perturbation effect - shooting badgers massively disrupts their social structure causing animals to move around the countryside more than they would normally do so. Vaccinating badgers is receiving strong public support and does not require any police to ensure it takes place compared to the cull. It is far cheaper to vaccinate badgers rather than shoot them. The programme has highly trained badger vaccinators along with over 100 volunteers. It has also become a centre of excellence for badger vaccination nationally with the Government using it as a training centre for badger vaccinators from around the country.

Ruth George, Labour MP for High Peak in Derbyshire, added, “I was very disappointed that the government have allowed the cull to be extended to low risk areas for Bovine TB and a cull could come to Derbyshire.  It is important to protect cattle and farmers’ livelihoods, but it would be wrong to disrupt the long-standing and successful vaccination programme in Derbyshire by the Wildlife Trust by culling, especially when no badgers have yet tested positive for TB in High Peak.”

To find out more about badger vaccination in Derbyshire please visit www.derbyshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/badger-vaccination