Ranging behaviour of badgers Meles meles vaccinated with Bacillus Calmette Guerin

Tuberculosis in European badgers (Meles meles) and the control of infection with bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination.

The eradication of tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis infection) from cattle herds may be compromised if infected wildlife species, such as European badgers (Meles meles), share the same environment and contribute to transfer of infection. Options for dealing with tuberculosis in this wild reservoir host are limited by conservation and social concerns, despite a clear implication that infected b...

Why Are Group-living Badgers (meles Meles) Sexually Dimorphic?

One of the hypotheses proposed to account for why badgers Meles meles are highly social in the U.K., the resource dispersion hypothesis, is that patchy resources are unpredictably dispersed in the environment and therefore must be shared, but that these patches are rich enough, when available, to support several badgers at any one time. Previous empiricists in our study site at Wytham Woods cal...

Oral Vaccination of Free-Living Badgers (Meles meles) with Bacille Calmette Guérin (BCG) Vaccine Confers Protection against Tuberculosis

A field trial was conducted to investigate the impact of oral vaccination of free-living badgers against natural-transmitted Mycobacterium bovis infection. For a period of three years badgers were captured over seven sweeps in three zones and assigned for oral vaccination with a lipid-encapsulated BCG vaccine (Liporale-BCG) or with placebo. Badgers enrolled in Zone A were administered placebo w...

The immunological consequences of challenge with bovine tubercle bacilli in badgers (Meles meles).

Optimal conditions were determined for performing antibody measurements (ELISA), lymphocyte transformation tests and, to some extent, skin tests in badgers. These parameters, together with the bacteriological and pathological studies reported previously (Pritchard et al. 1987), were used to follow the course of intradermal and intratracheal challenge of badgers with bovine tubercle bacilli. Two...

Territorial Marking with Faeces in Badgers (Meles meles): A Comparison of Boundary and Hinterland Latrine Use