Dorset for Badger and Bovine Welfare are proud to support the Dorset Badger Vaccination Project, which will be part of Brian May’s Badger and Cattle Vaccination Initiative. The project will offer low-cost vaccination of badgers as a humane and scientific alternative to culling.

From the DBVP website:

Professionally Trained Vaccinators will be Helping Dorset Farmers, Cattle and Wildlife in the Battle Against Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB). The Dorset Badger Vaccination Project (DBVP) has been set up by local people who have been trained by the DEFRA-funded Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) in the trapping, vaccination and release of badgers.

At the launch event at the Houses of Parliament Brian May said:

One of the criticisms that has been levelled at those of us who have been trying to save badgers for the last three years is that ‘something has to be done and you are advocating nothing. Well we are advocating something very, very positive. It seems that what is being done at the moment is actually making things worse. Vaccination is, in the end, the only way of eradicating the disease. We hope all those people genuinely in search of a solution will put aside their differences to support BACVI. In theory we have a bit of Government support already because they are going to supply the vaccine. And we hope that in the end, when the IEP (the independent expert panel reviewing the cull pilots) comes in – which we suspect will confirm that the pilots weren’t effective – the Government will start leaning towards vaccination.