Perturbing implications of wildlife ecology for disease control

Britain's Randomised Badger Culling Trial provides robust evidence of the role badgers have in transmission of Mycobacterium bovis to cattle. Culling badgers perturbed their social structure, and brought positive and negative effects for bovine tuberculosis incidence in cattle, leading to the conclusion that culling could not make a meaningful contribution to disease control. The RBCT highlights the complexities of disease transmission in social animals and the importance of host ecology for controlling wildlife diseases.