Over 80% of badgers culled in government TB programme found to be free from the disease

The Journal

21-05-2025

OVER 80% OF badgers culled by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM) tested negative for TB,
The Journal Investigates
can reveal.
Figures obtained via DAFM post-mortem reports show that of the 10,301 culled badgers submitted for testing in the last five years, 8,211 were found to be clear of mycobacterium bovis – the bacteria that causes bovine tuberculosis (bTB).
The healthy badgers were destroyed between 2020 and April 2025 as part of the State's
bTB Eradication Programme
, currently under immense strain from high cattle rates of the disease across the country.
As reported by
The Journal Investigates
, the
TB crisis is having a devastating toll on farming communities
across the country.
Every year, thousands of badgers are killed or vaccinated after being snared in controversial DAFM traps in a bid to control the livestock spread of the highly infectious disease.
Last year alone, a total of 7,319 badgers were culled by DAFM – the highest number recorded in the last 10 years.
In total, over 66,000 badgers have been destroyed since 2014 in the controversial culling programme, despite a 2018 government pledge to phase out the killings in favour of vaccination.
However, we can reveal that there has been a drop in the number of badgers being vaccinated, and a rise in the number being culled – even in designated DAFM vaccine areas.
The Journal
/ YouTube
An investigation by
The Journal Investigates
can reveal that last year, 23% (1,690) of the badgers culled were destroyed in vaccine areas.
These are locations where DAFM's primary method for managing bTB is supposed to be through vaccination, rather than culling.
The figure is almost double that of 2023, when 12.5% (777) of the 6,238 badgers killed were destroyed in designated vaccine areas.
In comparison, over 3,800 badgers were vaccinated in 2024, a drop from over 5,100 the year previous.
Wildlife experts say DAFM now has 'serious questions' to answer over its badger culling programme.
Pearse Stokes, rescue coordinator with Kildare Wildlife Rescue, said: 'It's very evident to anybody who looks at these numbers, that it doesn't work.
'So why has it been allowed to continue? It's totally ineffective, killing most of our badgers that are completely innocent and uninfected.'
DAFM said its programme 'necessarily incorporates a wildlife strategy' which includes the removal of badgers in response to research 'conducted over many years' by the department.
'Such a requirement arises as tuberculosis is present both in cattle and in badgers and both species share the same environment, and the same strains of TB,' a spokesperson said.
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Dogs and foxes snared in department traps
In Ireland, badgers are legally culled under the same legislation which protects them from persecution.
Under the
Wildlife Act 1976
, it is a criminal offence to intentionally kill or injure a badger, or to interfere with or destroy its sett.
In 2003, the Act was amended to allow DAFM to use 'stopped body restraints' to trap the protected species for either culling or vaccination purposes.
According to
DAFM funded studies
, lowering badger densities 'resulted in reduced incidences of bTB' in livestock.
However,
research surrounding the link between badger spread of the disease
remains contested, with other countries rejecting culls in favour of robust biosecurity measures to prevent the spread of TB.
Neither Wales nor Scotland cull the protected species, instead managing spread of the disease via badger vaccination, cattle-based measures, including enhanced testing and movement restrictions, as well as wildlife surveillance.
Since 2009, Scotland has maintained EU recognised TB-free status, with official government veterinary advice stating that 'wildlife does not currently represent a risk' in terms of spreading the disease to cattle.
Across the border, badgers in Northern Ireland are also protected from culling, though an attempt by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) was made to bring in the practice in recent years.
In October 2023, the High Court quashed the national cull bid, ruling that DAERA's consultation process was flawed and therefore unlawful. The legal challenge was brought by Wild Justice and the NI Badger Group.
Like Ireland, the province has seen a concerning hike in bovine TB with a 22.5% increase in TB reactors – cattle which test TB positive – in the first half of 2024, according to the Ulster Farmers Union.
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Here, DAFM use controversial traps to both vaccinate and cull badgers as part of its TB eradication strategy.
These consist of a multi-strand steel wire which incorporates a single swivel, a metal runner, a shackle and ferrule – a type of metal ring – which tightens around an animal to prevent it from escaping.
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The devices, branded with DAFM information, are placed at setts by department contractors under licences issued by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
Captured badgers are either shot and destroyed on site, or removed for vaccination.
Although designed specifically for badgers,
The Journal Investigates
has learned that the traps have mistakenly snared thousands of other animals, mostly wildlife.
Records obtained under AIE show that between 2014 and 2024, a lamb, two dogs and 4,399 foxes have been trapped in the DAFM devices.
Asked if the animals were injured or found dead in the restraints, DAFM confirmed that the trapped foxes were either 'released or euthanised'.
'The euthanised foxes are used as part of our requirement to screen foxes for echinnocicoccus multilocularis, a parasite found in the Northern Hemisphere,' the department said. 'Approx [sic] 400 foxes per year are required for the screening.'
The department could not confirm the numbers of foxes either destroyed or released, but did confirm the two dogs survived, while the lamb did not.
We also asked how many badgers had been found injured or deceased in these traps. The department confirmed that in the last 10 years, 62 were found dead in the devices, with the numbers climbing year-on-year since 2018.
However, wildlife experts have told
The Journal Investigates
that this number may be higher, as many trapped badgers are discovered by members of the public and wildlife rescuers before DAFM.
A vet at Kildare Wildlife Rescue treats an injured badger following rescue.
Pearse Stokes
Pearse Stokes
Panicked calls from public over traps
Pearse Stokes, a wildlife first responder, said he regularly rescues seriously injured badgers and other animals from DAFM issued traps.
'We take every animal that comes from the snare into care, because we need to run X-rays and ultrasounds,' said Stokes. The team can find 'that their organs inside are horrifically damaged', he said.
'So even if the skin is not broken, we'll see ruptured bladders and all kinds of things, so they have to come into care, even if they look okay on the outside.
'However, we do respond to cases where the animals do not look okay on the outside, and they have been essentially gutted, sliced open by these snares.'
Stokes says some of the badgers rescued from the 'barbaric' government traps have included lactating or pregnant females, raising fears for their young cubs.
He describes 'panicked' calls from members of the public who stumble across the trapped animals.
'Sometimes they don't understand what they're seeing,' he told
The Journal Investigates
.
We'll arrive on scene and say, yeah, this is a snare. And they'll kind of be thinking, what are you talking about? What do you mean, a snare?
'They'll be quite scared about what criminal entity potentially put that on their property when, in fact, it is the organisation charged with protecting and conserving our nature issuing licences for people to snare protected animals.'
The Journal Investigates
asked DAFM about Stokes' concerns.
A spokesperson said that the species is protected by both the Berne Convention and national legislation. As such, local populations 'cannot be exterminated' and badger habitats 'cannot be destroyed'.
They added: 'Badgers are captured under licence, issued by the National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
'They are captured using a specifically designed stopped-body restraint approved under Section 34 of the 1976 Wildlife Act and a condition of the licence is that restraints are checked before noon the next day. All restraints are monitored daily.'
Other issues encountered by wildlife rescuers is the uncertainty of whether the animals snared have been done so legally.
He said: 'We go out and collect a snare, and before we're wondering, is this an official snare, or is it not? Is it accidentally set incorrectly? Is it intentionally set incorrectly?
'So we're then stuck in a situation where, from an animal welfare perspective, it's cut and dry. This animal needs to be helped.
'But from a legal perspective, are we looking at a wildlife crime? Are we looking at a bad or incompetent job, or are we looking at something completely legal?'
Farming practices escalating TB spread
Stokes recalled one recent, distressing fox rescue in Dublin. The animal had been illegally snared by a third party using a trap, designed similar to those used by DAFM.
'It took 11 days to locate this fox because it had broken the snare and escaped, with the snare around its waist,' he said.
'It had been completely disembowelled, and it had worn the flesh on its leg down to the bone in order to escape.'
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Incredibly, the animal survived. However, the incident is one of many encountered by wildlife rescuers who say criminals use the guise of legal practices to commit illegality.
'I think the easy answer is to ban these things, just like in Scotland and Wales and soon in England, that's the easy answer,' Stokes said. 'So there is no smoke screen there for illegal activity.'
Ireland is one of only two European countries that currently operates a large-scale, government licensed badger cull.
The other, England, last year vowed to phase out the practice in favour of vaccination. This was due to scientific research which examined the effectiveness of badger culling as a method to control bTB.
This included a 2022 study commissioned by the British government which found no significant impact of badger culling on TB incidence among cattle herds.
The Irish government first said it was moving towards vaccine control of bTB in 2018, however culling has continued under special licence since.
The latest figures show TB herd incidence in the south of Ireland as 6%, a significant increase from the record low of 3.37% in 2015.
As revealed by
The Journal Investigates
yesterday,
Irish farmers are now bearing an almost daily financial and emotional toll
of the current bTB crisis.
According to
figures released by the Agriculture Minister
in March, over 41,600 cattle were destroyed following positive bTB tests on Irish farms in 2024.
Dr Paddy Sleeman, a researcher in the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at University College Cork, said research has pointed towards farming practices escalating bovine TB, rather than badgers alone.
According to figures from the Central Statistic Office, dairy cow numbers increased by over 350,000 from 2014 to 2024
As reported by
The Journal Investigates
earlier, dairy cattle are prone to higher TB infection rates to larger herd sizes and the closer air-space proximity of the animals when milking.
'Obviously, removing badgers will lower the rate of transmission, but most transmission, particularly in dairy herds, is from cattle to cattle, not badger to cattle,' he said.
'When I was a kid, herd sizes were around 20 to 40. Today, they are around 300 to 400.
'So, any infectious disease is going to rise if you get a rise in the number of catalysts, both per unit. It's basic epidemiology.'
Wildlife first responder Pearse Stokes rescuing a badger tangled in football nets.
Pearse Stokes
Pearse Stokes
Three-quarters of public surveyed against snares
Ruairí Ó Leocháin, a wildlife rescuer and primary school teacher, has repeatedly raised concerns about DAFM's use of snares and badger culling programme
The Co Athlone man, part of wildlife activist group Stand With Badgers, runs his own wildlife rehabilitation facility and apiary in Westmeath.
'If you look at the Red C poll carried out by Stand With Badgers in 2022, over two thirds of the Irish population want a total ban on snares,' he told
The Journal Investigates
.
It also showed that, which I found surprising, that as you go into the older age demographic, and into the farmers that are over 70, over 80% are anti-snare.
'These are the people who would have most experience of snares.'
According to the Red C data, younger men 'are the toughest group to convince on the merits for an outright ban of snares in Ireland' compared to older generations.
'Empathy on this particular proposition seems to increase with age, and suggests the need to look to older people for support and the need to target younger people with further information to convert them,' it said.
Earlier,
The Journal Investigates
revealed how one Kilkenny farmer suffered a TB outbreak on his farm despite being in a DAFM designated vaccine areas – where badgers are vaccinated, rather than culled.
Jim Mulhall said he later discovered that no vaccines had been administered in the area for three years.
Ó Leocháin said he feels 'sorry for farmers who are led up the garden path' and 'constantly told what to do' in managing the ongoing TB crisis.
'Whereas, what I'm seeing is, the farmers do not believe that the current bovine tuberculosis eradication policy is working.
'The numbers have gone through the roof over the last years, and there's no difference.'
In a lengthy statement in response to
The Journal Investigates
, a DAFM spokesperson said that despite the 'crucial' vaccinating of badgers, it is 'still necessary to remove badgers' particularly around farms experiencing a severe TB outbreak.
However, DAFM added that culling is 'not sustainable in the long term' due to its 'ultimate impact on badger ecology' and Ireland's commitments under the Bern convention. This protects Europe's wild species and habitats.
'Consequently, badger vaccination is also an integral part of the Irish TB Eradication Programme.
'This follows over 15 years of research work using BCG vaccine to prevent tuberculosis infection in badgers and scientific trials carried out between 2013 and 2017 show that vaccination is no less effective than culling.'
The Journal Investigates
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