Derbyshire Wildlife Trust celebrates vaccinating its 1000th badger in major vaccination scheme

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has vaccinated its 1000th badger in a major vaccination scheme.
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The animal was vaccinated by some of the Trust’s dedicated team of volunteers at 5.56am on Wednesday, May 12.

They have been growing the vaccination programme across Derbyshire for six years so far, with numbers of vaccinations only dipping in 2017 due to a world-wide shortage of the Bovine TB vaccine.

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Derbyshire Wildlife Trust are recognised as a national leader in badger vaccination by the Government, and have led on national badger vaccination training programmes in Edale.

The 1000th badger was vaccinated in Derbyshire on Wednesday (Photo credit: Pixabay)The 1000th badger was vaccinated in Derbyshire on Wednesday (Photo credit: Pixabay)
The 1000th badger was vaccinated in Derbyshire on Wednesday (Photo credit: Pixabay)

This season started on Tuesday, May 11, and 35 badgers have already been vaccinated.

Lead vaccinator Debbie Bailey has said “We are delighted with how 2021 is shaping up and positive that we can vaccinate many more badgers this year.

"Whilst we await the results from the Government on what the future of the badger cull looks like, we’ll be continuing to vaccinate badgers and proving that vaccination is more effective, cheaper and more humane that the badger cull.”

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Vaccinating badgers against bovine TB is an important part of tackling the disease in cattle, say the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust.

They have asked the government to fast track the transition from culling to badger vaccination.

As part of this, they want badger cull licences to stop being issued immediately and an end to the badger cull sooner than proposed.

They also want a review on how cattle are transported around the country and want the government to implement a cattle vaccine and ensure measures are in place to prevent infection spread between cattle.

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