Badger cull could increase TB in cattle, scientist warns

Cattle could be at greater risk if the cull numbers fall short
Cattle could be at greater risk if the cull numbers fall short
TONY C FRENCH/GETTY IMAGES

Outbreaks of tuberculosisTB in cattle in the badger culling zones could worsen because farmers may have failed to kill enough animals, according to a scientist who helped oversee a previous ten-year culling trial.

Rosie Woodroffe, a senior research fellow at the Zoological Society of London, was responding to reports that the trial cull in Somerset, which was due to end last night, had fallen well short of the target of shooting 2,100 badgers.

Sources involved in the cull have claimed that only about 800 badgers had been killed in Somerset by the end of last week. The Somerset cull and a second cull in Gloucestershire, due to end next week, are being held to test whether shooting is humane and can result in the required