Setts in the City
Keeping both badgers and cattle alive and well in Sheffield
The badgers of Sheffield are safe from the gun at present, following the licensing by the government of new badger culls extending as far north as Staffordshire in response to outbreaks of bovine tuberculosis. (Historically, badgers have been blamed for TB outbreaks in cattle.)
Conservationists, including those who’ve worked with farmers on succesful badger vaccination projects in Derbyshire, say vaccination and better tracking and biosecurity of cattle are much more effective at reducing bovine TB than culls, which can actually spread infection.
“There’s good evidence that culling doesn’t offer any meaningful change in the incidence of TB in cattle, or actually makes it worse,” said Ian Cracknell of Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust.
Mass culls lead to the ‘perturbation’ effect, where surviving badgers scatter to new areas and badgers from outside the cull area then move in, potentially spreading any infection.
The success of the badger vaccination scheme around Edale in Derbyshire has encouraged farmers to see the benefits of the much cheaper vaccination approach, and Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust have a badger appeal in progress, ready to set up a vaccination programme as an alternative in case there are calls for a cull in South Yorkshire.
The Trust wants to train vaccinators, carry out surveys and help local farmers with biosecurity, and then buy vaccines and equipment and enlist volunteers to help with a vaccination programme.
“It must be terrible for farmers to have to slaughter whole herds of cattle, and we’ve been lucky in this area not to have suffered that high incidence of TB in cattle,” said Ian Cracknell. “We’re keen to work with farmers who want to keep it that way.”
If bovine TB stays away, and a vaccination programme isn’t needed, the fund will go to improve and maintain badger habitats in the area.
Badger numbers had been falling in Sheffield until legislation in 1992, when harming badgers and digging out their setts was finally forbidden by law. Now they’re increasing again, not least because they like hilly woodlands, which are ideal for badger setts, Ian said. (Local names reflect our association with badgers: Brocco Bank, for example, was probably named after land where badgers lived many years ago.)
The UK’s largest land predator has now returned to a sustainable level in the Outdoor City, and Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust staff reckon there could be several thousand badgers in Sheffield, with urban sightings increasing.
“When people see a badger in their garden, it’s a little bit of magic, a chance to engage with something wild and mysterious that spends most of its life under the ground,” said Ian Cracknell.
“I’ve seen a badger near my home in Heeley, rooting about in the undergrowth with busy traffic nearby. It was incredible, I’d never seen a badger before in such an extraordinary place.”
Over lockdown badgers were photographed in the city centre, and one was even reported hanging around outside a local nightclub.
At this time of year, badgers are trying to put on weight for the winter and can be seen foraging for autumn nuts and berries (or viewed scouring back gardens for nuts via proliferating outdoor wildlife cameras on local WhatsApp groups).
Cubs are born in late winter, when badger clans spend more time underground away from the cold and wet weather. The Badger Trust advises that terriers and other dogs with an interest in badgers should be kept on a lead near badger setts in winter, as dogs can be lured underground by the enticing smell of badger cubs.
The government originally planned to stop large scale badger culls and move to vaccinations by 2025, and some conservationists are concerned that culls could yet be extended, or new cull announcements may simply be about meeting targets for badgers killed by that date.
Although bovine TB can be transmitted to and from cattle by other animals, including rodents, badgers, and foxes, the evidence, including studies of existing badger vaccination programmes, suggests the most effective way of controlling bovine TB is a combination of ‘bio-security’ measures for cattle movement and feeding, along with badger vaccination, said Ian Cracknell.
“A vaccination project is far superior to a cull,” said Graham Shepherd of the South Yorkshire Badger Group when the SRWT appeal launched in 2018. “Many local farmers are keen to keep their clean badgers in situ and other badgers out.”
If bovine TB numbers rise from the handful of incidents so far noted in South Yorkshire, the Trust feel there is still a real possibility of a cull, which could take local badger numbers back to the times when baiting and hunting were rife in Sheffield.
Ian said: “There are now badgers throughout Sheffield’s hills and valleys, and there are setts in the city. If we can vaccinate our badgers we’ll be able to demonstrate that badger culling doesn’t need to come here.”
More info: https://www.wildsheffield.com/badgers
What about a piece on starling murmuration?