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A rare Erythristic Badger is stands in a trap before being vaccinated on September 03, 2019 in the Peak District, England. The 'Derbyshire Badger Vaccination Project', run and funded by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and the National Trust, aims to vaccinate badgers at several key sites in the Peak District National Park, against Bovine tuberculosis (bTB), a disease that is thought, though not proven to be spread between Badgers and cattle. The infectious disease has pitted wildlife advocates and some members of the farming community against each other, with the method of containing the disease, vaccinating or culling, the source of the conflict. Despite around £300,000 GBP worth of government funding from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) towards the vaccination project, the government is still considering applications to cull animals in the Derbyshire area this Autumn, an incredibly emotive and controversial method that is both expensive and its effectiveness, according to scientific evidence, not proven. TB’s effect on the farming community has unquestionably been devastating however, with around 10,000 cattle being slaughtered in 2018, at a cost to farmers and taxpayers of about £120 million GBP a year and is thought to be on the increase. Finding a solution to the problem is one of the countryside’s biggest challenges and the most contentious wildlife management debates currently in the UK. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
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