HL Deb 07 September 2004 vol 664 cc151-2WA
Lord Rotherwick

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many badger carcasses have been collected by, or handed in to, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' Wildlife Units in (a) Cornwall; (b) Devon; (c) Dorset; (d) Gloucestershire; (e) Herefordshire; (f)Worcestershire; and (g) Shropshire; and [HL3834]

How many of the badger carcasses that have been collected, by or handed in to, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' Wildlife Units in (a) Cornwall; (b) Devon; (c) Dorset; (d) Gloucestershire; (e) Herefordshire; (f) Worcestershire; and (g) Shropshire have been tested for tuberculosis; and what were the results. [HL3835]

Lord Whitty

The table below shows the number of badger carcasses collected, and post-mortemed, by county as part of the Road Traffic Accident survey, up to 22 July 2004.

Table: RTA Badger Carcasses by County
County Number of carcasses collected Number of carcasses post-mortemed
Cornwall 497 365
Devon 566 495
Dorset 192 161
Gloucestershire 978 732
Hereford 302 216
Worcester 239 198
Shropshire 166 128

The Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB advises that the results of the post-mortem should not be disclosed at present to avoid either encouraging illegal action against badgers or deterring participation in the badger culling trial.

Lord Rotherwick

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many carcasses have been collected in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' survey of badger and deer carcasses in the Furness peninsular, Cumbria; and what was the result of the tuberculosis testing on these carcasses. [HL3836]

Lord Whitty

Between 1 January and 5 July 2004, 17 badger carcasses and one deer carcass have been collected for the Furness Peninsular Road Traffic Accident survey.

The deer carcass and nine badger carcasses were negative for Mycobacterium bovis (the causative organism for bovine tuberculosis). One badger carcass was unsuitable for testing, and we await results for the other seven.