Badger culling and bovine TB

I, like many others, am disappointed to hear that thousands of badgers are going to be culled in ongoing efforts to combat the increase in bovine TB. I do however recognise that bTB is an extremely serious problem and having spent some time reading available literature on the subject, I can go some way to understanding why it is felt that badger culling is necessary in some areas.

I am curious to know if there is an explanation for the higher bTB incidence in the Midlands, south west and Wales. The figures suggest that there are environmental factors involved for which I have not seen data. If so, badgers would seem to be only a part of the issue and as much a victim as cattle. To my mind this would make badger culls only a stop gap solution and not the final answer to the problem.

Data suggests that the south west and Wales are acting as a disease reservoir for the rest of the country.

If anyone can add anything to this question I would be interested to hear.

I've just asked the NFU about the geographical distribution of the disease and it will be interesting to see what they have to say.