Written question asked by Owen Paterson (Conservative) on Monday, 1 December 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 11 December 2003. It was answered by Ben Bradshaw (Labour) on Thursday, 11 December 2003 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what deleterious effects on wildlife arising from the current badger population level have been recorded by her Department and other UK public bodies.

Answer: Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what deleterious effects on wildlife arising from the current badger population level have been recorded by her Department and other UK public bodies. [141992] Mr. Bradshaw: Previous research has shown that there is a negative relationship between badger and hedgehog abundance, i.e. more badgers equals fewer hedgehogs, in rural areas. This is believed to be due to hedgehog predation by badgers and through hedgehogs avoiding areas of higher badger density. However, this is not necessarily a "deleterious effect on wildlife", since predator/prey interactions are a feature of ecosystems. It has been suggested that badgers may impact adversely on some species of ground nesting birds. The interaction between the badgers and other species in the ecosystem is the subject of a study being carried out by the Central Science Laboratory. This study is being conducted in selected areas of the Randomised Badger Culling Trial and the results will not be available until after the fieldwork programme finishes at the end of 2004.

Secondary information