Badger vaccination project

In 2014 BBOWT set up a Mammal Project to vaccinate badgers on key nature reserves in order to protect our own and graziers’ cattle from bovine TB and to promote the use of vaccination rather than culling badgers.

Four BBOWT staff trained with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to be able to carry out badger vaccinations in a safe and humane way.

The scheme was subsequently extended and we are currently vaccinating on our key nature reserves and surrounding land in Oxfordshire.

In 2021 BBOWT were the first NGO to be approved by Natural England and the APHA to deliver badger vaccination training courses. Since then we have been running courses each year to train our own staff, volunteers, badger groups and other organisations in supporting skills for badger vaccinations, trapping badgers and vaccinating badgers.

Read more about BBOWT's stance and work on badgers and bovine TB

Why we are vaccinating badgers against bovine TB

The Wildlife Trusts believe an evidence-based and scientifically reliable approach must be developed to counteract the risk posed to cattle by bovine TB. The government has seen no definitive benefits from three years of industry-led culling of badgers in England.

There is robust, scientific evidence to prove that badger vaccination reduces the transmission of bovine TB in badgers. BBOWT would like to see more strategic and widespread badger vaccination schemes along with a focus on the significantly larger problem of cattle-to-cattle transmission of bovine TB.

Latest news

2025: During summer, we will continue to vaccinate at Cothill and Chimney Meadows; for autumn-winter, we will carry out further badger activity surveys on private estates in Berkshire and new nature reserves across the three counties. The results of these surveys will be used to plan new vaccination schemes in preparation for the launch of DEFRA’s new bovine TB eradication strategy and badger vaccination funding package.

2024: We focused on vaccinating badgers on our Oxfordshire nature reserves at Cothill and Chimney Meadows, successfully vaccinating 20 adults and 4 cubs. We also started badger activity surveys on a new estate in West Berkshire which adjoins our previous Badger Edge Vaccination Scheme (BEVS) project area.

August 2024: The new government pledge to end badger culling by 2029, alongside undertaking research into the prevalence of Tb in badgers and expanding badger vaccination programmes. The Trust welcomes these measures but would like to see the culls finish sooner and greater focus on the role of cattle-to-cattle transmission in the spread of the disease.

June 2024: Pre-existing licenses to cull badgers are still in place. Natural England licenced new supplementary cull zones in Oxfordshire. This cull will continue until January.

Autumn 2023: Licences to cull badgers are still in place in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire and the area covered by culling licences increased in 2023.

1 November 2022: Natural England announces it has issued new licences for badger culling to landowners in 69 areas of England, including Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Read more here.

1 September 2022: This summer we vaccinated 49 badgers and trained two more people as part of our badger vaccination programme.

7 September 2021: Natural England announces it has issued new licences for badger culling to landowners in seven areas of England, including Berkshire and Oxfordshire. Read more here.

27 May 2021: Despite public outcry and more than 39,000 objections, the Government announces that it will issue more licences to cull up to 130,000 badgers over a four-year period. Read more here.

15 March 2021: BBOWT urges supporters to have their say in a Government consultation on when to end the issuing of badger culling licences. This decision, and the plan to further extend licences to 2028, could see at least 130,000 badgers killed nationally – including thousands of healthy badgers in Oxfordshire and Berkshire. Read more here. 

7 September 2020: Despite the Government’s commitment in March 2020 to phase out badger culling across England in favour of vaccination, they announced in September 2020 that culling will be licenced for the first time in several counties, including Oxfordshire. The Trust is saddened and deeply concerned at the news. Read more here.

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