Wildlife Welfare

Wild Badger Vaccination Welfare and Population

Vaccination of wild badgers against bovine tuberculosis offers a welfare-positive alternative to culling that protects badger populations.

Key Facts

Oral and injectable BCG vaccination of badgers reduces bTB infection rates
Vaccination programmes do not require killing and have minimal animal handling welfare impacts
DIVA tests allow differentiation between vaccinated and infected animals
Sustained vaccination programmes over multiple years show population-level bTB reductions
Vaccination is more acceptable to the public than lethal culling

Welfare Considerations

Badger vaccination against bTB offers disease management without the welfare costs of culling. Vaccination itself involves brief trapping stress but causes no lasting harm. The approach preserves badger populations while reducing bTB transmission risk. Growing evidence of effectiveness is shifting policy toward vaccination as the primary bTB management tool.

What You Can Do

Support government investment in badger vaccination programmes
Advocate for vaccination to replace culling in bTB management policy
Donate to organisations supporting badger vaccination trials