ATTEMPTS to find out more about a "mini-epidemic" of tuberculosis among Furness cattle by testing wildlife killed on the roads is valid, Government vets said this week after coming under fire from a conservation group.

Carlisle-based veterinary officers for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said an animal with visible TB lesions was found in an abattoir this week bringing the total number of Furness farms under TB restrictions to four.

Concern over TB in the peninsula triggered Defra to add a survey of badgers and deer killed on the road to its ongoing two-year cattle-testing programme in an area of 180 sq km centred on Furness.

But the roadkill research programme launched on December 31 has been condemned as an extravagant waste of tax-payers' money by the National Federation of Badger Groups, which believes the Government is unfairly blaming badgers for spreading the disease.

In a statement its chief executive Dr Elaine King said farming minister Ben Bradshaw had revealed that the bovine TB found in Furness cattle in seven cases between 2001 and 2003 and had only been found before in Shropshire. She concluded that this meant the TB could only be caused by cattle movements because badgers would not migrate from Shropshire to Cumbria. Instead Dr King blamed cattle movements that were unrecorded by the British Cattle Movement Service.

She said: "I think that DEFRA officials who have devoted their careers to blaming badgers for spreading TB are deliberately misleading farmers, the wider public and their own minister as the likely cause of these seven Cumbrian outbreaks."

But DEFRA vet John Moffitt, who has responsibility for south west Cumbria, said it was not fair to say the cases could only be associated with cattle movements.

TB can be classified using an advanced type of genetic typing called spoligotyping. While the Furness cases matched the spoligotype in Shropshire there could be different sub-types and a different explanation for them being found within wildlife.

He said DEFRA was concerned about TB in Furness because the area was not significantly affected by foot-and-mouth. Restocking after the 2001 outbreak could explain TB cases in the north of the county but not in Furness.

"We can't explain the mini-epidemic'," he said. "The DEFRA office in Carlisle and the national office has never implicated the badgers in this area. We are keeping an open mind. We are looking to prove or either disprove concerns that have been expressed."

He further pointed out that the survey included testing deer as well as badgers.

DEFRA's divisional animal health manager in Cumbria John Kelsey said: "We are being totally open minded about this, we have no hidden agenda. We are just trying to find out what's going on so we can develop an appropriate strategy."

The Government survey will hopefully determine whether or not there is a reservoir of TB within the local wildlife, information that would be welcomed by Furness farmers who supported the research.

Since the appeal went out to the public to report roadkill in January, only a polecat found near Askam-in-Furness and a badger have been picked up for analysis. Anyone who finds a dead badger on the roads is asked to contact the Animal Health Divisional Office at Carlisle on 01228-591999. The office will organise collection free of charge.

Prevention tips: BUY stock from farms with little or no history of TB. Ideally test the animals before moving them.

Prevent contact between your animals and those on neighbouring farms.

Don't let TB testing become overdue.

Take steps to prevent TB infecting wildlife or vice versa by avoiding badger grazing areas, securing feed stores and putting feed in troughs not on the ground.