| Other defra.gov.uk sites
 

Badger Vaccine Deployment Project

The Wildlife and emerging diseases programme is currently managing a Badger Vaccine Deployment Project, funded by Defra, to trap and vaccinate badgers against TB in an area of England badly affected by bovine TB in cattle. Fera will offer training to lay vaccinators to help build capacity to vaccinate badgers. For more information about the project use the link below:

Wildlife and emerging diseases

The role of the Programme

The programme provides research, advisory and operational services in relation to diseases of wildlife, livestock and zoonotic infections of humans. It contributes to disease control by developing effective wildlife management options and by helping implement these.

By integrating the skills of veterinarians, ecologists, mathematical biologists and wildlife management specialists from gamekeeping and farming backgrounds, the programme has a unique breadth of understanding and the ability to deliver practical solutions to disease problems.

We have a long-established and proven track record in several key areas:

  • Ecology and management of wildlife diseases
    We run the Woodchester Park project, the results of which underpin understanding of bovine tuberculosis dynamics in badgers and are taking the lead in an EU-wide review of TB in wildlife for EFSA. We help improve farm biosecurity by evaluating factors affecting wildlife activity in farm buildings and mitigating disease risks.
  • Wildlife vaccination
    With partners at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, we have led research and development of vaccines for bovine TB in badgers and are helping to plan vaccine deployment.
  • Contingency response to exotic disease outbreaks and security threats
    We are responsible for the UK contingency plan for rabies in wildlife. We conduct horizon scanning, risk assessments and help plan emergency responses to zoonotic diseases with wildlife reservoirs. We have advised The Home Office on the potential role of wildlife reservoirs in bio-terrorism incidents.
  • Modelling disease dynamics
    Our numerical models of disease spread and control strategies support policy making for control of endemic and exotic diseases.
  • Control of parasitic diseases in livestock
    We conduct research and surveillance of parasitic diseases and maintain dedicated and fully equipped laboratory facilities in support of our parasitological work. We work with industry partners to develop sustainable control of sheep scab and use of anthelmintic treatments in sheep and cattle.
  • Surveillance, diagnostics and screening of wildlife, livestock and vector-borne diseases
    Our wildlife screening work underpins the UK disease-free status for Trichinella, a vital contribution to the UK pig industry. We undertake surveillance and ecological research on rabies in British bats. We also provide veterinary expertise in relation to diseases in cats and dogs for the Pet Travel Scheme.

All enquiries should be directed in the first instance to

[You must enable JavaScript to see this email address]
.

Our partners and collaborators

We work closely with UK government departments and agencies, in particular with Defra Food and Farming Group, Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Food Standards Agency and the Welsh Assembly Government. Our research is also supported by the farming industry and a range of other stakeholder organisations.

We collaborate with a number of other UK and overseas research institutions and universities.

We supervise and support current PhD studentships at:

  • University of Bristol. Population level correlates of Tb in badgers. Neil Walker supervised by Peter Green, Department of Statistics
  • University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus. Contact rates and social networks in badgers. Nicola Reed supervised by Stuart Bearhop and Sasha Dall, Centre for Ecology and Conservation.
  • University of Leeds. Population structure of Daubenton's bats. Ruth Angell supervised by John Altringham
  • University of Liverpool. Individual level correlates of TB in badgers. Alex Tomlinson supervised by Richard Birtles, Department of Veterinary Pathology.
  • Queen's University, Belfast. Dynamics of TB in badgers. Sheila George and Berit Kostka supervised by Ian Montgomery and Mike Scantlebury.
  • Scottish Agricultural College and BioMathematics and Statistics Scotland. Models of TB dynamics in badgers. Leo Zijerveld supervised by Mike Hutchings (SAC) and Glenn Marion (BioSS)

We have active collaborative projects with the Universities of Exeter, Leeds, Newcastle, Sussex, Warwick, Queen's University Belfast, Royal Veterinary College, Scottish Agricultural College, Universidad Complutense de Madrid and with the Agri-Food and Bio-Sciences Institute (Northern Ireland), Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (Spain) and the State Veterinary Institute (Sweden).

Key publications

Our senior scientists have recently published a landmark text on the practical management of wildlife diseases and are well-known for a best selling parasitology book for veterinary students and practitioners:

Our programme scientists publish 30-40 peer-reviewed articles a year. Recent research highlights include:

  • McDonald RA, Delahay RJ, Carter SP, Smith GC, Cheeseman CL (2008) Perturbing implications of wildlife ecology for disease control. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 23, 53-56. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2007.10.011.
  • Trewby ID, Wilson GJ, Delahay RJ, Walker NJ, Young RP, Davison J, Cheeseman CL, Robertson PA, Gorman ML, McDonald RA (2008) Experimental evidence of competitive release in sympatric carnivores. Biology Letters 4, 170-172. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0516.
  • Smith GC, Parrott D & Robertson PA (2008). Managing wildlife populations with uncertainty: cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo. Journal of Applied Ecology 45, 1675-1682. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2664.2008.01380.x
  • Carter S, Delahay R, Smith G, Macdonald D, Riordan P, Etherington T, Pimley E, Cheeseman C (2007) Culling-induced social perturbation in Eurasian badgers Meles meles and the management of TB in cattle: an analysis of a critical problem in applied ecology. Proceedings of the Royal Society London B 274, 2769-2777. doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.0998
  • Holland EP, Aegerter J, Dytham C & Smith GC (2007) Landscape as a model: the importance of geometry. PLoS Computational Biology, 3, doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030200
  • Vicente J, Delahay R, Walker N, Cheeseman C (2007) Social organisation and movement influence the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in an undisturbed high density badger (Meles meles) population. Journal of Animal Ecology 76, 348-360. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2656.2006.01199.x
  • Donnelly CA, Woodroffe R, Cox DR, Bourne FJ, Cheeseman CL et al. (2006) Positive and negative effects of widespread badger culling on tuberculosis in cattle. Nature, 439, 843-846. doi:10.1038/nature04454.
  • Woodroffe R, Donnelly CA, Jenkins HE, Johnston WT, Cox DR, Bourne FJ, Cheeseman CL, Delahay RJ et al. (2006). Culling and cattle controls influence tuberculosis risk for badgers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103, 14713-14717. doi:10.1073/pnas.0606251103

Key team members