After a seal pup was recently diagnosed with bovine TB, it appears that the spread of TB is not only a worry for cattle, but could also spread to other warm blooded animals, such as pigs, sheep, goats, cats and dogs.
The pup was washed up on a Cornish beach and was so severely affected by TB it had to be put down. Vet Andy Biggs said a badger could have come into contact with the pup after being attracted by the placenta.
Mr Biggs added, "Its quite worrying to me. What's essentially an aquatic mammal who spends very little time on our shore, goes away with a free present of bovine TB."
Nigel Gibbons, the Government's chief veterinary officer, said, "It seems quite unusual. We know badgers are territorial. A bite wound is quite often the way badgers are infected, or other animals infected. It illustrates the possibility that bovine TB can spread from one species to another."
About 10,000 cattle were slaughtered between January and March because they reacted to the TB test, or were in direct contact with the disease.
Yvonne Squire, from Torrington in Devon, had a kitten who caught Bovine TB. She said, "He was attacked by a feral cat. I took him to the vet with a terrible bite. The kitten got worse. I took him back to the vet. They did all these tests. They phoned me up to say my little Alfie had TB, and he had to be put down. He said there was a dog there who also had it."
A badger cull was announced for two test areas earlier in the year. Under the proposals, about 5,000 badgers will be culled in two pilot zones in the South West.
The Government says the action is needed to help tackle bovine TB, a disease of cattle that has been steadily rising since the 1980s. However, wildlife groups, such as that led by ageing rocker Brian May, say killing badgers will have no impact.
