The increase in badger (Meles meles) density at Woodchester Park, south-west England : a review of the implications for disease (Mycobacterium bovis)prevalence

Data from the longest running capture-mark-recapture study of Eurasian badg ers, in an undisturbed wild population at Woodchester Park in Gloucestershi re, have been used to investigate their ecology and TG status. The density of badgers in the study area has steadily increased throughout the study an d may now be reaching a plateau, but bears no linear relationship with the prevalence of TB infection which has fluctuated in an apparently cyclical p attern. Clearly, other factors apart from host density may be important det erminants of TB infection in badger populations. The extent to which badger social structure, movement and the possibility of innate resistance may af fect spatial and temporal changes in the spread of disease are the subject of ongoing research.