UPDATE: reports have now been confirmed as true

Recently there have been reports that the Kimblewick Hunt has had to kill some of its hounds due to them catching bTb from a carcass. While this has not been confirmed by the hunt or the Masters of Foxhounds Association (the MFHA) we wanted to write a few thoughts about bTb and hunting in general.

While it’s believed that it is harder for bTb to be spread through the movement of biological materials such as soil rather than mouth – to – mouth transmission or through the sharing of water troughs, etc. initial guidelines for cull contractors in Gloucestershire stated that they should wash down their vehicles, changing clothes and boots when moving between farms.

We argued that hunts were still being allowed to travel from farm to farm, hounds, horses and vehicles moving soil and bacteria, etc. across the land with them. Additionally, we have been gradually building up more and more information and evidence that hunts in the three counties (and beyond) block, dig-out and tamper with badger setts…

Check out ‘Stop Badger Sett Blocking’ for various incidents of sett blocking at / near hunt meets.

We are approaching a time when many hunts are finishing the season in their areas and are heading to the Fells, the West Country or the South in order to get a few more meets in before the fox hunting season comes to an end. Throughout the season hunts will travel around the country for joint meets with other hunts, taken horses, hounds and vehicles with them before returning to their own country… What better way to spread disease?

Especially as the badger culls in this part of the country cover various parts of all three counties, and cover various ‘hotspots’ of the disease, it’s incredible that culls are being allowed to carry on and that new licenses are being granted for it to move into further areas. Badger vaccinators are required to wash down their boots and disinfect, so why are the guidelines for cull contractors not so strict and why do the hunts get to move around unrestricted?

Badgers are being targeted illegally by badger baiters, diggers and farmers, are caught up in the hunting of foxes when their setts are blocked or dug-out by hunt staff and supporters and are being scapegoated by farmers and the government in the ‘fight’ against bovine tuberculosis.

A week before last year’s cull started in Gloucestershire a 3C sab and her friend caught a group of badger baiters at a well-targeted sett from the cull that they were keeping an eye on. In February 2016 a man was caught prior to a hunt meet in the soon-to-be North Cotswolds zone blocking a badger sett. October 2016 saw a hunt terrierman in the Cotswolds digging out a badger sett to get to the hunted fox. These types of incidents previously led us to write our article ‘Hunts vs Badgers’ in order to highlight the persecution of badgers in the three counties / badger culling zones.

In 1937 David Brock, in his book ‘To hunt the fox’ wrote that bTb may well be a future problem for packs of hounds in the countryside due to the potential spread of the disease by hunts. An article in the Telegraph regarding TB in 2001 spoke of hunts being asked to collect fallen stock / dispose of sick animals. Now we are not just talking about the spread of the disease through the spread of biological material on the hooves of horses and the paws of hounds (or the spades and quad bikes of terriermen and supporters) but also potentially hounds being infected with the disease, running through farmland and fields, often trespassing or chasing foxes to ground in badger setts…

How can badger culling continue to be licensed when activities such as hunting continue unresearched and unregulated in those very same cull zones?