FUNDING has been awarded for a programme of testing for the presence of TB infection in badgers across the Exmoor area.
The Government’s Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) secured the money as part of an Exmoor Deer Surveillance project.
The study will run until next July and will test badgers found dead or those killed in road traffic collisions for the presence of TB.
The Exmoor Hill Farming Network (EHFN) is asking people to let manager Katherine Williams know if they spot a road traffic accident or find a dead badger in the area by calling 01643 841455 or 07970 795808.
A spokesperson said: “You do not need to collect carcasses, as once reported to EHFN, collection will be arranged separately.
“We are asking all members to report these quickly when found, as carcasses need to be as fresh and intact as possible so they are viable for testing.
“This will help to detect the presence of TB and support APHA’s whole genome sequencing work for the project.”
APHA, an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), oversees the culling of badgers in parts of the country to reduce TB infections in herds of cows on farms.
The Badger Trust, which opposes culling, fears ‘local extinction events’ of badgers were almost inevitable in Somerset as one of the areas in the UK where populations had fallen below 30 per cent was in the county.
Trust chief executive Peter Hambly said more than 10,500 badgers in England would be slaughtered under current DEFRA licences issued from the end of August.
Mr Hambly said together with the expected kill figures for a 2024 supplementary badger cull, the total number marked for slaughter this year in England was more than 38,000, of which nearly 2,000 were in Somerset.
He said the ‘astonishingly’ heavy cull total meant badgers could disappear from parts of Somerset for the first time in 250,000 years.
Mr Hambly said: “Killing wild, native badgers in these numbers is the biggest assault on nature and the most unethical approach to animal welfare on record.”