Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Public attitudes to badger culling to control bovine tuberculosis in rural Wales

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
European Journal of Wildlife Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper examines public attitudes to wildlife control to prevent the transmission of disease between wild and farmed animals. In Great Britain, there has been considerable controversy amongst farmers, the public, scientists and politicians over the role of badger culling in the management of bovine tuberculosis. This paper examines public attitudes to badger culling in rural Wales, the reasons why culling is rejected and/or accepted and the level of trust the public place in different organisations responsible for badger culling. Variations in public attitudes between areas of differing degrees of rurality and disease incidence are analysed. Results indicate moderate levels of support for badger culling, but respondents do not believe the current scientific evidence on the effectiveness of a cull is acceptable. Respondents in rural fringe areas and low disease incidence are more likely to favour badger vaccination. The results have implications for future policy and methods of communicating wildlife control policies to the public.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (2011) Epidemiology of bovine tuberculosis in Wales. Annual surveillance report for the period January to December 2010. Welsh Government, Cardiff

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell MM (1994) Childerley. Nature and morality in a country village. Chicago University Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Bickerstaff K, Simmons P (2004) The right tool for the job? Modeling, spatial relationships, and styles of scientific practice in the UK foot and mouth crisis. Environ Plann D Soc Space 22:393–412

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black R (2011) UK public opposed to badger cull, opinion poll suggests. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13684482

  • Bow Group (2012) Bow group urges government to scrap badger cull plans. Available at: http://www.bowgroup.org/policy/bow-group-urges-government-scrap-badger-cull-plans

  • Bruskotter JT, Vaske JJ, Schmidt RH (2009) Social and cognitive correlates of Utah residents’ acceptance of the lethal control of wolves. Hum Dimens Wildl 14:119–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buller H (2008) Safe from the wolf: biosecurity, biodiversity, and competing philosophies of nature. Environ Plan A 40:1583–1597

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carstensen M, O'Brien DJ, Schmitt SM (2011) Public acceptance as a determinant of management strategies for bovine tuberculosis in free-ranging U.S. wildlife. Vet Microbiol 151:200–204

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cassidy A (2012) Vermin, victims and disease: UK framings of badgers in and beyond the bovine TB controversy. Sociol Rural 52:192–214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Convery I, Mort M, Baxter J et al (2008) Animal disease and human trauma: emotional geographies of disaster. Palgrave Macmillan, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dandy N, Ballantyne S, Moseley D et al (2011) Preferences for wildlife management methods among the peri-urban public in Scotland. Eur J Wildl Res 57:1213–1221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dandy N, Ballantyne S, Moseley D, et al (2012) Exploring beliefs behind support for and opposition to wildlife management methods: a qualitative study. Eur J Wildl Res 1–12

  • Davison C, Smith GD, Frankel S (1991) Lay epidemiology and the prevention paradox: the implications of coronary candidacy for health education. Sociol Health Illn 13:1–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (2006) Public consultation on controlling the spread of bovine tuberculosis in cattle in high incidence areas in England: badger culling. A report on the citizens’ panels. Defra, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (2011a) Bovine TB—key conclusions from the meeting of scientific experts held at Defra on 4th April 2011. Defra, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (2011b) Bovine TB eradication programme for England. Defra, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (2013) Draft strategy for achieving “officially bovine tuberculosis-free” status for England. In: Defra (ed). London: Defra.

  • Dougherty EM, Fulton DC, Anderson DH (2003) The influence of gender on the relationship between wildlife value orientations, beliefs, and the acceptability of lethal deer control in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Soc Nat Resour 16:603–623

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eden S, Bear C (2011) Models of equilibrium, natural agency and environmental change: lay ecologies in UK recreational angling. Trans Inst Br Geogr 36:393–407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Enticott G (2001) Calculating nature: the case of badgers, bovine tuberculosis and cattle. J Rural Stud 17:149–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Enticott G (2008) The ecological paradox: social and natural consequences of the geographies of animal health promotion. Trans Inst Br Geogr 33:433–446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Enticott G, Maye D, Ilbery B et al (2012) Farmers’ confidence in vaccinating badgers against bovine tuberculosis. Vet Rec 170:204

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Farm Crisis Network (2009) Stress and loss: a report on the impact of bovine TB on farming families. Farm Crisis Network, Northampton

    Google Scholar 

  • Fulton DC, Skerl K, Shank EM et al (2004) Beliefs and attitudes toward lethal management of deer in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Wildl Soc Bull 32:1166–1176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • García-Jiménez WL, Fernández-Llario P, Benítez-Medina JM et al (2013) Reducing Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa) population density as a measure for bovine tuberculosis control: effects in wild boar and a sympatric fallow deer (Dama dama) population in Central Spain. Prev Vet Med 110:435–446

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gortazar C, Vicente J, Boadella M et al (2011) Progress in the control of bovine tuberculosis in Spanish wildlife. Vet Microbiol 151:170–178

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grant W (2009) Intractable policy failure: the case of bovine TB and badgers. Br J Polit Int Relat 11:557–573

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green D, Askins GR, West PD (1997) Public opinion: obstacle or aid to sound deer management. Wildl Soc Bull 25:367–370

    Google Scholar 

  • Halfacree KH (1995) Talking about rurality: social representations of the rural as expressed by residents of six English parishes. J Rural Stud 11:1–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heberlein TA, Ericsson G (2005) Ties to the countryside: accounting for urbanites attitudes toward hunting, wolves, and wildlife. Hum Dimens Wildl 10:213–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heffernan C, Nielsen L, Thomson K et al (2008) An exploration of the drivers to bio-security collective action among a sample of UK cattle and sheep farmers. Prev Vet Med 87:358–372

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Humane Society International (2012) Bill Oddie and MPs support HSI’s official complaint against badger cull. Available at: http://www.hsi.org/world/united_kingdom/news/releases/2012/02/badger_bern_complaint_022812.html, http://www.hsi.org/assets/pdfs/Badgers_HSIUK_YouGov_SurveyResults_Feb12.pdf.

  • Independent Scientific Group (ISG) (2007) Bovine tuberculosis: the scientific evidence. Defra, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahan DM, Jenkins‐Smith H, Braman D (2010) Cultural cognition of scientific consensus. J Risk Res 14:147–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahan DM, Peters E, Wittlin M et al (2012) The polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks. Nat Clim Chang advance online publication

  • Kendall HA, Lobao LM, Sharp JS (2006) Public concern with animal well-being: place, social structural location, and individual experience. Rural Sociol 71:399–428

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • König A (2008) Fears, attitudes and opinions of suburban residents with regards to their urban foxes. Eur J Wildl Res 54:101–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • League Against Cruel Sports (2011) Minister hints at u-turn on badger cull as polling shows public opposition. Available at: http://www.league.org.uk/news/983/Minister-hints-at-u-turn-on-badger-cull-as-polling-shows-public-opposition

  • Lehane R (1996) Beating the odds in a big country. The eradication of bovine brucellosis and tuberculosis in Australia. CSIRO, Collingwood

    Google Scholar 

  • Loker CA, Decker DJ, Schwager SJ (1999) Social acceptability of wildlife management actions in suburban areas: 3 cases from New York. Wildl Soc Bull 27:152–159

    Google Scholar 

  • Loyd KAT, Miller CA (2010) Influence of demographics, experience and value orientations on preferences for lethal management of feral cats. Hum Dimens Wildl 15:262–273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marsden T, Murdoch J, Lowe P et al (1993) Constructing the countryside. UCL Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Maye D, Enticott G, Naylor R et al (2014) Animal disease and narratives of nature: farmers’ reactions to the neoliberal governance of bovine tuberculosis. J Rural Stud 36:401–410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Assembly for Wales (2011) Explanatory memorandum to the badger (control area) (Wales) order 2011. In: Officer OotCV (ed). Cardiff, National Assembly for Wales

  • National Farmers Union (2011) Majority of people back badger cull—survey. Available at: http://www.nfuonline.com/News/Majority-of-people-back-badger-cull---survey/

  • O'Brien DJ, Schmitt SM, Fitzgerald SD et al (2011) Management of bovine tuberculosis in Michigan wildlife: current status and near term prospects. Vet Microbiol 151:179–187

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (2011) Evaluating the use of 1080: predators, poisons and silent forests. Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Wellington

    Google Scholar 

  • Poortinga W, Bickerstaff K, Langford I et al (2004) The British 2001 foot and mouth crisis: a comparative study of public risk perceptions, trust and beliefs about government policy in two communities. J Risk Res 7:73–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poortinga W, Pidgeon NF (2003) Exploring the dimensionality of trust in risk regulation. Risk Anal 23:961–972

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan TJ, Livingstone PG, Ramsey DSL et al (2006) Advances in understanding disease epidemiology and implications for control and eradication of tuberculosis in livestock: the experience from New Zealand. Vet Microbiol 112:211–219

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sheridan M (2011) Progress in tuberculosis eradication in Ireland. Vet Microbiol 151:160–169

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spencer A (2011) One body of evidence, three different policies: bovine tuberculosis policy in Britain. Politics 31:91–99

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teel TL, Krannich RS, Schmidt RH (2002) Utah stakeholders' attitudes toward selected cougar and black bear management practices. Wildl Soc Bull 30(1):2–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Tversky A, Kahneman D (1974) Judgment under uncertainty: heuristics and biases. Science 185:1124–1131

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wales Rural Observatory (2009) Deep rural localities. Wales Rural Observatory, Cardiff

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was funded as part of the ESRC Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society (RES-568-28-5001). I am grateful to Emma Glendinning, Karolina Rucinska, Louise Obara, Andrew Spayde and Susannah McWilliam for conducting the surveys and to Jon Radcliffe for mapping deep rural areas in Wales.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Planning and Geography, Cardiff University, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3WA, UK

    Gareth Enticott

Authors
  1. Gareth Enticott
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gareth Enticott.

Additional information

Communicated by R. White

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Enticott, G. Public attitudes to badger culling to control bovine tuberculosis in rural Wales. Eur J Wildl Res 61, 387–398 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-015-0905-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-015-0905-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation