A review of TB controls in NI by the chief veterinary officer, Brian Dooher has suggested a new approach to the thorny issue of wildlife intervention.

Commissioned by Agriculture Minister, Andrew Muir, the report by Dooher outlines his own views across a wide range of TB-related issues. Ultimately it will be up to Minister Muir to decide how best to proceed.

The Dooher analysis builds on a lot of the recommendations made in a report published in 2016 by an expert TB Strategic Partnership Group. That report formed the basis for a TB eradication plan from DAERA in 2022.

However, a legal challenge from badger campaigners effectively blocked a key part of that plan which was to undertake a non-selective cull of badgers in TB hotspot areas of NI by controlled shooting.

Engage

On the other side of the argument are farming organisations, who have refused to engage with DAERA around issues such as stricter movement controls and changes to compensation payments for reactors, until DAERA address the reservoir of TB in wildlife.

In his review, Dooher has put forward a “potential novel wildlife intervention scenario”. It relies on the five-year research study done in a 100km2 area of County Down between 2014 and 2018. Known as Test : Vaccinate : Remove (TVR), it involved trapping badgers, testing them for TB, vaccinating those that are healthy and euthanising any with infection.

The Dooher proposal is that in “sub-areas” chosen for wildlife intervention work, TVR is used in the first year. If TB infection rates in badgers are low, vaccination of badgers across the area would be rolled out the following year.

However, there is no point vaccinating diseased badgers, so if TB rates are above a threshold, a “short, intensive cull” of badgers would be done.

The policy in each sub area will be reviewed annually.

In his report, Dooher is clear that badgers are “important maintenance hosts” for TB, but if eradication is to be achieved, all possible factors that contribute to spread of the disease must be addressed.

In that regard, his report goes into a lot of detail around tighter movement controls for TB breakdown herds, the potential options to reduce the amount spent on compensation for reactors and the need to improve biosecurity on farms.

Group

In the meantime, a new TB steering group is to be established in January 2025, comprising representatives from farming, wildlife and veterinary organisations.

It is to identify the immediate priorities for action, with a delivery plan to be with Minister Muir before the end of March 2025.

“This has to be done with industry and in partnership with them. There is going to be hard decisions - this isn’t going to be easy on anybody, because if it was we’d already have done it,” Dooher told the Stormont Agriculture committee last Thursday.

Too much focus has been on wildlife, says Muir

Maintaining the TB programme in NI in its current form is not sustainable and change is required in the short, medium and long term, Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir told members of the Stormont Agriculture committee last Thursday.

He urged farmers, vets and conservationists to work with government on a new approach and suggested that differences over how to deal with TB in wildlife have become a major barrier to progress.

“We must and we can do better in tackling this issue together. For too long, the debate around bovine TB has focused on the place of wildlife intervention in controlling and eradicating this disease,” he said.

With the TB programme in NI costing taxpayers £55.7m in the last financial year and record numbers of reactors at TB tests in 2024, current projections suggest spiralling costs of over £1bn in the next 15 years.

“The levels of infection are really not sustainable for the farming community nor for my department,” said the Minister.

It was put to him by Strangford MLA Michelle McIlveen that the burden of any new TB controls must not fall solely on farmers and there is a need to do wildlife intervention in parallel as part of a new approach.

Responding, Minister Muir said he would not “shy away” from difficult decisions, but that any wildlife intervention would require DAERA to do a formal public consultation. Meanwhile, there are other policies set out in DAERA’s eradication plan from 2022 that can be “implemented more quickly” he said.

UFU hit out at DAERA inaction

Responding to the publication of the Dooher review into TB, Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) President, William Irvine, described it as an “insult to farmers who have suffered huge financial losses and are struggling with mental strain due to the disease.”

The UFU President said the report lacked meaningful action to address TB and instead contained proposals around testing and biosecurity that are “heavy-handed”. He was also critical of the timeline proposed by Minister Muir, with decisions on any new TB policy delayed until the end of March 2025.

“Farmers don’t have any faith left in DAERA by this stage. We’ve been told time and time again that action is just around the corner,” said Irvine.

His organisation has asked for a meeting with the First and Deputy First Minister. “We will continue to push forward until we achieve an effective TB eradication strategy that addresses all sources of infection and protects the future of NI’s farming industry,” said Irvine.