Spreading of bovine TB by hunting hounds

Summary The Kimblewick Hunt and its kennels are intimately involved with the movement of M bovis spoligotype 10:a into an area of England where it was hitherto not thought to be prevalent, and its onward spread to the environment, 97 hounds, two pet dogs and probably one human member of staff.1 Shortcoming in Defra’s assessment Despite clear evidence that bTB-infected hunting hounds have geographically spread a spoligotype of bTB, the paper makes questionable assumptions about the risks that hunting hounds pose to the environment, cattle, other dogs, wildlife and people. Instead of banning the practise, Defra merely banned the feeding of livestock offal to hounds.2 BTB lesions in cattle are not confined to offal, but occur for example in peripheral lymph nodes including those of the head and neck,3 in bone4 and the central nervous system.5 As kennel workers will not always identify such lesions and, as up to 10 per cent of bTB cases in UK cattle have no visible lesions,4 infected tissues continue to be fed raw to packs of hounds throughout the country. Neuropathological findings in cattle with clinically suspect but histologically unconfirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy.