Bovine TB Group

Link Manager: Ellie Ward, Senior Policy Officer

Update from the Group:

The Government has signalled that it intends to end the badger cull, and is developing a refreshed national strategy for managing bovine TB. The new national strategy must take a holistic approach to managing bTB, and must be underpinned with rigorous scientific evidence, if it is to deliver a sustainable, successful and permanent transition away from culling.

In February 2025, the Group submitted evidence to the Godfray Panel 2025. This reconvening of the Godfray Panel is an important opportunity to address gaps that were present in the last review and to examine crucial new evidence, both relating to the (in)efficacy of badger culling and the success of cattle measures. We urge the Panel to also consider welfare and ethical expertise. 

The group has also shared key policy recommendations with the panel, including for improved cattle testing and biosecurity, a safe and effective bTB vaccine for cattle, and a permanent end to the badger cull in 2025. 

In April 2024, the Group responded to the consultation on 'proposals to evolve badger control policy and introduce additional cattle measures', in particular the proposed 'targeted badger intervention' policy. We do not support the policy, and in our response set out a number of concerns with the proposed approach, including:

• A lack of clear, scientific evidence to show that badger culling alone has significantly reduced bTB in cattle, and therefore a lack of clear, scientific evidence to justify further culling of a protected British species. 
• A lack of explanation for how evidence will be used to determine the role of badgers in local disease outbreaks.
• A failure to define critical aspects of the proposal, such as 'clusters'.
• Continued use of controlled shooting, a method that multiple independent experts consider to be inhumane.
• A lack of ambition concerning badger vaccination, or stronger cattle measures. 

Government must implement a more sustainable approach to controlling bTB, through a combination of badger vaccination and stronger cattle measures.

In March 2021, the Group responded to the 'Bovine tuberculosis - consultation on proposals to help eradicate the disease in England'. We set out our opposition to the badger cull policy, highlighting that the huge costs of the policy, in terms of animal welfare, biodiversity and finance, have not been matched by evidence of its efficacy in controlling disease. The Group also responded to the Bovine tuberculosis call for views on 'possible future measures to accelerate disease eradication in England', in April 2021.

Link's response to Government's May 2021 announcement of the next phase of the bovine TB strategy can be found here.

For further information, contact Ellie Ward, Link’s Senior Policy Officer.

Last updated: 23 April 2025