The nearest badger vaccination area to the cat was 35km away. \ Cliff Mason The Department of Agriculture has said that it is “very unlikely” that a vaccinated badger infected a cat in Wicklow with TB. A study published in the Journal of Small Animal Practice in January said a domestic outdoor cat presented with lameness, a biopsy was taken and the bacteria which causes TB in cattle was found. DNA testing found bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) Danish strain 1331. “Badgers had been vaccinated with the [BCG] vaccine in the area where the cat lived, in the spring and autumn of the previous year,” authors of the study said.