Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Question 331: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will make a commitment to a complete ban on the snaring of badgers in view of the fact that some 7,000 badgers appear to be snared annually by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. [16862/10]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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My responsibilities under the Wildlife Acts relate to the conservation of populations of certain protected species including the badger. Badgers may not be hunted, injured or wilfully interfered with or their breeding place destroyed. However, the legislation enables me, as Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government, to issue a licence to a person to capture and humanely kill a protected wild animal for specified scientific or other purposes. Since 2004, 30 licences have been issued annually to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food – one for each District Veterinary Office (DVO). There is one DVO per county, with the exception of County Cork, which has 3, and Counties Tipperary and Wicklow, which have 2 DVOs each.

These licences permit taking and humane killing of badgers for the purpose of carrying out research into bovine tuberculosis in cattle and badgers, which the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food considers essential. The badger has been identified as an important reservoir of Mycobacterium bovis, the bacterium that causes bovine tuberculosis (TB).

Licences issued in this regard are subject to strict conditions and must comply with the Part 3(d) of Wildlife Act 1976 (Approved Traps, Snares and Nets) Regulations 2003 which specifically stipulates, with respect to badgers, that a "stopped body restraint", complying to certain dimensions, must be used when capturing badgers. Figures provided by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food indicate that in 2009 just over 6,000 badgers were captured compared to almost 7,300 in 2008. I understand that the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is funding research on the development of a bait based vaccination against TB for badgers and that a pilot project has commenced. I would be hopeful that an effective vaccination will become available as a result of this research.