Cattle make friends with poorly badgers; Cull process starts.

Byline: ANDREW FORGRAVE

WALES has taken the next step towards a badger cull as scientists revealed new evidence showing how TB could be passed from badgers to cattle and back again.

The Assembly Government has begun consulting on its plans for a limited badger cull in north Pembrokeshire.

While it would be possible to licence farmers to undertake the work, Cardiff wants to manage and deliver the cull itself.

This requires secondary legislation which would provide powers to cull, and to vaccinate, badgers in the future.

Farm unions welcomed the 12-week consultation while British Veterinary Association president Nicky Paull, in her address to this week's BVA Welsh dinner, praised Cardiff for its proactive stance.

She said: "I am sure that all British farmers will be watching the Welsh programme and hope that it will show that this dreadful disease can be successfully controlled - and eventually eradicated." NFU Cymru wants feedback from its membership before reporting back on the plans and union president Dai Davies was pleased to see the process getting off the ground.

Meanwhile the Scottish Agricultural College and York University have revealed that interactions between badgers and cattle may be much greater than previously thought.

Researchers fitted data loggers to badgers and cattle and used them to monitor meetings between the animals.

The study found close contacts between badgers and cattle in fields, something previous visual observation had failed to notice. It is thought the disease may be spread via the breath of infected animals.

"Our work indicates that concentrating biosecurity measures on feed stores and cattle sheds which badgers are known to visit may not be enough" said project leader Dr Mike Hutchings.

"We have been neglecting a potentially significant area of disease transmission between the species." Researchers also noted that some cattle are more curious and sociable than others. Not only are they more likely to be curious about badgers, but they are also mix more readily with other cattle, passing on disease.

According to Dr Hutchings, it is already known that cows with a higher status in the herd tend to catch TB.

"What was surprising was that badgers contacted some cattle more frequently than they contacted other badgers from neighbouring social groups," he added.

He suggested that, in the absence of badger culling, one way of tackling TB would be to target specific, high risk cattle..