Badgers (Hansard, 20 October 1994)

§ Mr. Morley
To ask the Minister of Agriculture Fisheries and Food how many badgers were culled at the Highgrove estate, Tetbury, in each month since November 1993; and how many of those badgers culled were infected with tuberculosis.

§ Mrs. Browning
A total of 15 badgers were culled on the Highgrove estate in a badger removal operation which started on 5 April and finished on 26 July this year. Of these, three were taken in April and 12 were taken in July. All were negative for M. bovis.

§ Mr. Tony Banks
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on what grounds licences to kill badgers on the Highgrove estate were issued in mid-August 1994; how many badgers were killed; and how many were found to have bovine tuberculosis.

§ Mrs. Browning
A detailed epidemiological investigation by Ministry veterinary staff attributed the confirmed cattle TB herd breakdown which occurred on the Highgrove estate in November 1993, to infection by badgers. The results of the badger removal operation that followed were given in my answer to the hon. Member for Glanford and Scunthorpe (Mr. Morley) on 20 October 1994,Official Report, column 334.
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§ Mr. Tony Banks
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many badgers were killed under licence in 1993 and 1994 to date; and how many were found to have bovine tuberculosis.

§ Mrs. Browning
A total of 1,094 badgers were trapped and killed in Ministry badger removal operations in 1993. Of these, 302 were positive for M. bovis. So far in 1994, a total of 1,448 badgers have been trapped and killed in Ministry badger removal operations. Of these, 257 were positive for M. bovis; 460 results are pending.

§ Mr. Tony Banks
To ask the Minister of Agriculture Fisheries and Food what is the cumulative total of badgers killed arising from efforts to eradicate bovine tuberculosis in British cattle since 1964.

§ Mrs. Browning
The cumulative total of badgers killed in Ministry badger removal operations since 1974, when controls began, is 15,443. It is not known how many badgers died underground when gassing was used by the Ministry as a means of badger control between 1975 and 1982.