Effect of culling on individual badger Meles meles behaviour: potential implications for bovine tuberculosis transmission

1. Culling wildlife as a form of disease management can have unexpected and sometimes counterproductive outcomes. In the UK, badgers (Meles meles) are culled in efforts to reduce badger-to-cattle transmission of Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of bovine tuberculosis (TB). However, culling has previously been associated with both increased and decreased incidence of M. bovis infection in cattle.
2. The adverse effects of culling have been linked to cull-induced changes in badger ranging, but such changes are not well documented at the individual level. Using GPS-collars, we characterised individual badger behaviour within an area subjected to widespread industry-led culling, comparing it with the same area before culling and with three unculled areas.
3. Culling was associated with a 61% increase (95% CI 27-103%) in monthly home range size, a 39% increase (95% CI 28-51%) in nightly maximum distance from the sett, and a 17% increase (95% CI 11-24%) in displacement between succe...