The UK government has recently announced that the badger cull is to come to an end.
The badger cull started all the way back in 2013. It was started by the UK government because they believed that the badger cull would stop the spread of TB (bovine tuberculosis), which they believed was being spread by badgers. However, the badger cull has been very controversial in the UK and scientists have long argued that the badger cull wouldn't be an effective way to stop TB. Bovine tuberculosis is a disease that can be found in cattle, this disease can also be spread to other animals, including wild animals like badgers.
A report out in 2018 said that farmers were more to blame for the spread of TB than badgers. Another report out in late 2019 said that the badger cull also made the spread of TB worse.
This may be why the government is now introducing a new approach to tackling the spread of TB, as the badger cull has long thought to have been ineffective in tackling the threat of TB in animals.
The new approach by the UK government to tackle the spread of TB will be for them to introduce vaccinations for both cattle and badgers in the hope to end the disease. The government has a new action plan for the next five years and hopes to eradicate TB by 2038.
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