The destruction of the badger population in parts of Co Monaghan hardest hit by bovine TB, is to begin next month, the Department of Agriculture and Food confirmed yesterday.
It said it was proceeding with the plan to appoint 75 dedicated personnel to remove all source of infection in the 20 per cent of the country which yields 50 per cent of current bovine TB reactor cattle.
Badgers infected with TB have been blamed for spreading the disease in cattle and scientific studies have shown that when they were removed from the countryside, the number of cattle reacting to the bovine TB test dropped dramatically. Scientists have discovered that tuberculous has been increasing in the badger population and 21.2 per cent of dead badgers examined recently had the disease.
The move to exterminate the badgers has been condemned by the BadgerWatch Ireland organisation which claimed it will result in the wholesale destruction of the badger population currently estimated to be in the region of 250,000.
It has complained that "the badger killers" being appointed as part of a deal between the farming organisations and the Government would be far more concerned with killing badgers rather than conserving them.
It said that not enough was being done to ascertain if vaccination of the badger could prevent the spread of the disease between the two species.
The Department said it would organise a national survey of sites where badgers were located and would undertake trials in regard to the planned badger vaccination strategy.
It said it had put administrative staff for its new Wildlife Unit in place and would use Farm Relief Service personnel under contract for the badger programme until it has appointed 75 of its own staff to the unit, which should be fully operational by June next year.