Brian May under fire for ‘partial picture’ of TB control

Queen guitarist and wildlife campaigner Sir Brian May has been accused of “not telling the whole story” when setting out his case for an immediate end to badger culling in England.

The complaints have been made ahead of a new TV documentary, due to be aired on BBC Two on Friday 23 August, called Brian May: The Badgers, The Farmers and Me.

See also: Brian May – ‘Badgers are irrelevant in cattle TB spread’

In the programme, which has been previewed by Farmers Weekly and shared with selected stakeholders, Sir Brian sets out why he believes badgers have been “brutally persecuted for a crime they didn’t commit”.

The documentary explains how the approach taken at Gatcombe Farm in east Devon, supported by Sir Brian and overseen by vet Dick Sibley, has focused on identifying and removing any cattle harbouring the disease and shedding it in their faeces.

As well as inaccurate skin testing of cattle, the finger of blame is pointed at slurry, with Sir Brian stating that just one gram is capable of infecting a cow with TB.

However, ­disease-carrying badgers living in the vicinity were exonerated.

The programme then celebrates the fact that, after four years of TB breakdowns, the farm went clear in 2018 without killing a single badger. “We’d finally done it!” exclaimed Sir Brian.

Disease returns

But the programme makes no mention of the fact that Gatcombe Farm’s TB-free status lasted only 14 months, before positive cases appeared again.

Farmers Weekly first reported this in July 2020, and we have since discovered that, having regained TB-free status in October 2021, the farm went down again in May and September 2023.

Speaking to Farmers Weekly a week ahead of his documentary airing, Sir Brian said this is because they were legally unable to carry out enhanced TB testing while being TB-free, so could not identify and cull out TB “carriers”.

It had nothing to do with the presence of TB-infected badgers on the farm, he claimed.

Criticism

But others have criticised the fact these subsequent breakdowns are not mentioned in the BBC documentary at all.

TB expert Prof James Wood of Cambridge University said it was “highly misleading” not to explain that the farm had gone down again with TB, adding that badgers did play a part in some situations.

AHDB lead veterinary science expert Sarah Tomlinson agreed that the source and spread of TB varied from farm to farm.

“The evidence since this documentary was filmed is that Sir Brian May’s solution has not been as successful as portrayed,” she said.

NFU deputy president David Exwood described the documentary as “fundamentally flawed”.

He said: “It ignores all the independent, peer-reviewed science, and omits the fact the farm has continued to cull cattle due to recent TB infections in its herd.

“The significance of wildlife control in helping to control this disease is documented in three peer-reviewed studies, all conducted at scale.

“The anecdotal evidence that Sir Brian May is relying on has had no such scrutiny.”

NFU Cymru has also cast doubt on the claims about infected slurry being the principal means for spreading bovine TB.

The union’s president, Aled Jones, said: “Research by the Animal and Plant Health Agency has said the possibility that bovine TB is spread through cattle faeces is extremely low.”

However, Sir Brian remains convinced the science is flawed, and is urging the government to stop badger culling.