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Impact of culling on relative abundance of the European badger (Meles meles) in Ireland

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Abstract

The European Badger (Meles meles) has been implicated in the epidemiology of bovine tuberculosis in cattle populations in the Republic of Ireland. Badger populations have been subject to a culling regime in areas with chronic histories of bTB cattle herd breakdowns. Removal data from 2004 to 2010 were used to model the impact of culling on populations in areas under capture. Additionally, changes in field signs of badger activity were used as an index of abundance to support, or otherwise, the outcomes of the removal models. Significant reductions in standardised badger captures over time were found across three large study areas (total area, 1,355 km2). Assuming that all inactive setts were vacant, an overall linear trend model suggested that badger captures had decreased by 78 % for setts with 6 years of repeated capturing operations. Given the uncertainty associated with the relationship between sett activity and badger presence, we repeated the linear modelling using two ‘what if’ scenarios. Assuming that individual badgers were missed on 10 % or 20 % of occasions at inactive setts, the estimated decline over 6 years is lowered to 71 % or 64 %, respectively. The decline profile consisted of a steep initial decrease in captures within the first 2 years, followed by a more gradual decrease thereafter. The number of active openings at setts (burrows) declined significantly in all three areas; but the magnitude of this decline varied significantly amongst study areas (41–82 %). There was a significant increase in the probability of setts becoming dormant with time. The removal programme was more intense (mean, 0.45 badgers culled km−2 year−1) than previous experimental badger removals in Ireland but some captures may be attributed to immigrant badgers as no attempt was made to limit inward dispersal from areas not under management. Results from this study suggest that significant reductions in badger density occurred in the areas where management had taken place. Since other non-culled badger populations in Northern Ireland and Britain exhibited stable population trends, we attribute the reduction in relative abundance to the culling regime. Further studies of the dynamics of this reduction are required to quantify how it is counteracted by immigration from populations outside of culled areas.

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Acknowledgments

AWB was supported by a Walsh Fellowship from Teagasc—The Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority (www.teagasc.ie). All data were generated during licensed bovine TB control activities funded through the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (www.agriculture.gov.ie) as part of the medium term national strategy toward eradication of bovine TB. The authors wish to thank Stuart Green (Teagasc), Dr. Liam Lysaght and the staff of the National Biodiversity Data Centre for their support during the writing of this paper. Gratitude is extended to all the field staff in Longford, Monaghan and South Tipperary and administrative staff within the Wildlife Unit of the Department of Agriculture, which contributed to data collection during this project. We also wish to thank all land owners for cooperating during the fieldwork of this study. The manuscript was greatly improved by comments from two anonymous reviewers.

Competing interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Distillery Fields, North Mall, University College, Cork, Ireland

    Andrew W. Byrne, D. Paddy Sleeman & John Davenport

  2. Teagasc Research Centre, Mellows Campus, Athenry, Galway, Ireland

    Andrew W. Byrne

  3. Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Dublin 2, Ireland

    James O’Keeffe

  4. Centre for Veterinary Epidemiology and Risk Analysis, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

    James O’Keeffe

  5. Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada

    S. Wayne Martin

  6. Teagasc, Athenry Research Centre, Co. Galway, Ireland

    Andrew W. Byrne

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  1. Andrew W. Byrne
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Correspondence to Andrew W. Byrne.

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Communicated by C. Gortázar

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Byrne, A.W., O’Keeffe, J., Sleeman, D.P. et al. Impact of culling on relative abundance of the European badger (Meles meles) in Ireland. Eur J Wildl Res 59, 25–37 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-012-0643-1

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