Green Central: click here to read Times Online's environment blog

A cull of badgers is vital to halt the spread of bovine tuberculosis throughout the country, a parliamentary inquiry will say. The vaccination of badgers and other species such as deer must also play an important role in reducing outbreaks of the disease, a report from the all-party Select Committee for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will argue.

Hilary Benn, the Rural Affairs Secretary, said that he would make a decision on how to control the disease after hearing the views of MPs. The committee’s findings are due to be published on Wednesday.

The need for action has become more urgent because the disease has spread to camelids - llamas and alpacas. The number of cases is small but 300 camelid farms in Britain could be at risk. The animals cost between £1,000 and £3,500 to replace.

About 5,000 regular farms are being infected with bovine TB each year and about 20,000 cattle have had to be slaughtered at a cost to the taxpayer of almost £100 million a year. In 1986 there were only 589 cattle infected with the disease. Without action it is estimated that the cost to the country could reach £2 billion in the next decade.

Owners of llamas and alpacas have no automatic right to compensation but it is understood that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has agreed to make an ex gratia payment to breeders.

Liz Ford and John Mitchiner have kept llamas at their 34-acre farm in Whitland, southwest Wales, for ten years without any problems. When one of their animals died in June the couple were shocked to discover it had been infected with bovine TB. Since then they have lost 12 of their herd of 25 llamas to the disease and are unable to sell any of the animals or continue with their breeding programme.

Ms Ford said: “They almost certainly caught the disease from pasture contaminated with badger urine. We don’t want to see a mass badger cull but they must be protected from disease to prevent other animals becoming infected.”

The couple have received a small amount of compensation.

A spokeswoman for Defra said that bovine TB policy for nonbovine species that are susceptible to the disease, such as alpacas, llamas, deer, goats and cats, was also under review.

The precise details of a cull will be agreed by Defra and Natural England, the wildlife adviser to the Government. It is understood that MPs have suggested that Natural England could grant licences to farmers who need to kill badgers for disease control. It is estimated that there are 500,000 badgers in Britain.

No licences have been given out during the past ten years while scientific tests tried to find a link between badgers and cattle in the spread of TB.

The report is expected to emphasise a desire to protect badgers and other wildlife as well as cattle. The MPs suggest that until a vaccine that can be injected into wild animals is developed medication should be left in crops to protect them. Farmers must also be more vigorous about testing animals before moving them.

Anthony Gibson, a spokesman for the National Farmers’ Union, said: “It is essential that Hilary Benn now acts on this recommendation and instructs his officials to work with the farming community to develop culling strategies that can start to reduce the reservoir of TB in badgers.” The Badger Trust blames the movement of cattle for the spread of bovine tuberculosis and is calling for tighter rules.

Trevor Lawson, a spokesman for the trust, said: “Taxpayers are picking up the bill for this ludicrous state of affairs in increased compensation payments, whilst badgers have been scapegoated for a problem that is inherent in the farming industry.”

Times recommends

• Energy-saving ideas from switched-on professor
• Rooks are as clever with tools as chimpanzees
• Burping of the lambs blows roast off menu