Farming Editor
Badgers are being caught on security cameras raiding food stores on farms in the South West.
The cameras are being installed on 75 of the region's farms as part of research to help prevent the continual spread of bovine tuberculosis between badgers and cattle.
They are part of the "farm assessment toolkit project" being run by the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) to help farmers take steps to badger-proof farm buildings and so reduce the risk of TB spreading from wildlife to herds.
Badgers can be very persistent in trying to get access to buildings – particularly where maize is stored.
Ian Vernon, from the AHVLA team running the project, said: "We had a fantastic take-up from our volunteer farms and we've spent the last few months installing cameras. The final ones will be going up in August. We're also starting to conduct individual surveys to understand badger activity near the farm buildings and to record details of farming practices and landscape features.
"There's still a lot of work to do collating and analysing data, but we've made good progress and we're starting to see images come back from the cameras installed this year."
He said that in some cases farmers have had no idea badgers were entering their buildings. On one of the farms the cameras picked up images of badgers frequently visiting the feed store by squeezing under the gate. The farmer was able to fix a piece of wood to the bottom of the gate to prevent it happening again.
Over a four-week period the cameras count the number of badger visits to buildings, helping the AHVLA develop a method to assess the risk of badger visits, as well as to report back to the individual farmers involved. It is writing to farmers with the results of the surveillance so they can consider additional measures such as secure gates and lockable feed bins.
In a separate scheme the South West TB Farm Advisory Service has been filming badgers as part of a project with Bicton College to test badger-proof equipment, such as fences and feed bins.
Anthony Pope, the group's senior adviser, said: "The determination of badgers to enter an enclosure was quite astounding and highlighted the challenge farmers have in keeping them from accessing different areas of their farms. We hope the project will inspire people to come up with new ideas for future badger-proof equipment."
A Government cull of badgers in two bovine TB hotspot areas in the region is due to take place this summer.
