Badger culls fail to halt cattle TB

CULLING badgers is not a cost- effective way of controlling TB in cattle, according to experts.

A team from the Zoological Society of London who studied a major trial cull believe the benefits had disappeared four years after the programme ended.

Research showed that localised culling of badgers in the area around an outbreak of TB in a cattle herd actually increased levels of the disease. But culling about 80 per cent of badgers cut the number of herds testing positive.

A Defra spokesman said: "The government is determined to make progress in eradicating bovine TB."