Another successful round of badger vaccinations took place this June and July, with the preceding weeks being given over to the preparation work of training the badgers to come for nuts and getting them accustomed to the specially designed badger traps. 

Over time we have developed a detailed map of the areas that badgers frequent, although from season to season there is always some variation in this.

A survey searching out active signs, such as fresh digging, piles of recently changed bedding by a sett or fresh latrines (piles of poo) reveals what the current population is up to. 

When it comes to positioning the traps, it’s then the turn of staff and volunteers to dig. A good level of fitness is required to get the traps to where they are required, including an ability to hop over fences, slide into ditches and battle through undergrowth to reach the optimal spot.  

Getting the badgers into the habit of coming for nuts and not to be spooked by the traps is a gradual process, requiring a systematic approach, an eye for detail, upper limb co-ordination and an ability to work in a limited space. During this phase the help of volunteers has been very much appreciated. 

Vaccination days start very early in the morning to enable all the trapped badgers to be released as soon as possible. Despite the commonly held belief that badgers are fearsome creatures, the majority caught present passively, accepting the vaccination without a fuss before trundling off to their sett.

Every effort is made to keep the experience as stress-free as possible and the badgers undergo visual health checks before vaccination and again before being released, with a designated vet contactable if needed. 

I really enjoyed being included in this year’s badger vaccination programme. The digging in phase during the appalling afternoon heat was pretty arduous but how rewarding it was to catch, vaccinate and release the badgers. They all seemed to have their own personalities and you could never predict how they were going to react. Some of the more mature badgers were quite mellow and seemed to take it in their stride which made for some “textbook” video footage whilst one or two of the youngsters were leaping about, doing somersaults and making it a bit harder.
Jed Yarnold, BBOWT volunteer

Fifteen badgers were vaccinated at Chimney Meadows and 19 in West Berks, including a number of cubs – a couple of which were a bit wriggly making the job of the vaccinators a little more testing.

After the hard work leading up to vaccination day, it is always a relief to know that the efforts of all those involved have been rewarded.

Despite the numerous numbers of badgers I have been privileged to see over the years, every encounter with a badger is an honour and a delight.

BBOWT’s Mammal Project team has been vaccinating badgers against bovine TB since 2014 to protect the cattle that play a vital role in conservation grazing on our nature reserves.

Through the programme BBOWT has been able to promote vaccination over culling, a practice which BBOWT and many of our supporters oppose. There have been no definite benefits demonstrated from the government’s industry-led culling programme, with continued outbreaks of the disease in cattle likely to be contributed to by bio-security practices and spread from cattle to cattle rather than wildlife to cattle.

Badger vaccination has shown that it reduces transmission of bovine TB between badgers. It is more humane and considerably cheaper than culling. 

Rightly so, working with badgers is strictly regulated. Badgers are protected under legislation and the practice of trapping and vaccinating requires a license from Natural England and relevant qualifications and registration to be held by participating workers. 

The whole process must adhere to a strict protocol to maintain the welfare of the badgers and the health and safety of workers. Compliance checks are randomly conducted by Natural England.

Ideally we would like to extend our vaccination further in 2023 to cover land in both Oxfordshire and Berkshire beyond our current vaccination scheme.

Nationally, we would like to see:

• An immediate halt to the culling of badgers
• More widespread government led and funded badger vaccination programmes  across the country
• Accelerated research into a vaccination for cattle
• Improved regulations in the movement of cattle. 

BBOWT's badger vaccination project