Rising sika deer numbers linked to Irish bovine TB outbreaks >More in
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New research suggests Ireland’s increasing populations of sika deer may be linked to local outbreaks of bovine TB infection in cattle.
Researchers used county-level population densities, taken between 2000 and 2018, to track the three known maintenance hosts of TB in Ireland: cattle, badgers and sika deer.
They then considered how variations in local densities compared with the variation in TB infection rates across the country, and also at county level.
Although TB infection rates have decreased in general in recent decades, county-level data showed a correlation between higher sika numbers and higher local TB infections – with County Wicklow a particular hotspot.
Ireland s deer linked to bTB in cattle, study says
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Rising Sika deer populations linked to bovine TB infections
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IMAGE: New research suggests Ireland s increasing populations of Sika deer may be linked to local outbreaks of TB infection in cattle. Although TB infection rates have decreased in general in recent. view more
Credit: Benjamin Lecomte
New research suggests Ireland s increasing populations of Sika deer may be linked to local outbreaks of TB infection in cattle.
Although TB infection rates have decreased in general in recent decades, county-level data shows a correlation between higher Sika numbers and higher local TB infections - with County Wicklow a particular hotspot.
The research, conducted by researchers from Trinity College Dublin and the National Parks and Wildlife Service and supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, has major implications for controlling TB. It has just been published in the journal,
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Studies in Europe and the US have shown that deer, at higher densities, can sustain TB in their herds. \Valerie O’Sullivan
A correlation between higher Sika numbers and TB infections in cattle has been found, with Wicklow a particular hotspot.
The conclusion was drawn following analysis of county level data by researchers from Trinity College Dublin and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
Lead author Dr David Kelly from Trinity’s School of Natural Sciences, said that while badger management has made great advances, deer have appeared on the radar as another wildlife host to be managed.