Bovine tuberculosis has been cleared from the last infected cattle herd in Southland. TBfree Southland Committee chairman Mike O'Brien yesterday said the region had achieved its target of zero infected cattle and deer herds four years ahead of programme projections. The zero target was a huge achievement, he said. However, it does not mean an end to the TB control programme in Southland. TB testing, wild animal control operations and surveys will continue. "As is the case with any regime, now that we have reached our goal we have to keep up a strict maintenance programme so we don't waste our efforts to date. It's possible that there is still a low level of wildlife TB in some areas and we have to keep the pressure on." The final infected herd was on the edge of the Hokonui Hills, where a major aerial 1080 possum control programme was carried out in 2004. "Infected possums and ferrets in the Hokonuis were a persistent source of infection for surrounding herds, and the 2004 operation seems to have broken the back of that infection source." TB infection rates peaked in Southland in 1997, when at one stage 54 herds were infected with bovine TB. The Animal Health Board, in partnership with Environment Southland, has spent about $50 million on possum and ferret control and survey work in the region since that peak.
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