£98,000 Defra grant boosts Derbyshire badger vaccination programme

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust will receive £98,600 from the Department of Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to vaccinate badgers across Derbyshire.

Starting this month, the scheme will focus on a 26-kilometre stretch of farmland and National Trust land in and around Edale and the Peak District National Park.

The award builds on work already undertaken by the Trust during 2014 following a successful public appeal to kick-start a vaccination programme, which raised over £54,000.

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Tim Birch, the organisation’s Head of Advocacy and Conservation Strategy, said: “We are delighted to receive funding from the Government to further develop our important work vaccinating badgers in Derbyshire.”

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s Badger Vaccination Programme is now considered one of the most successful models in the country and is being developed in close partnership with the National Trust, National Farmers Union (NFU), Derbyshire’s Badger Group and the Country Land and Business Association (CLA).

Mr Birch added: “We believe that badger vaccination is now being recognised as a very important tool for helping deal with the bovine TB crisis in cattle across England along with other important actions including the development of a cattle vaccine.”