Bovine Tuberculosis and Vector Management
Hawke's Bay Regional Council is committed to the control and eradication of wildlife which carry bovine Tb. Carriers (also called 'vectors') are possums, feral deer, pigs and mustelids (stoats, ferrets and weasels)
The Council is contracted to the Animal Health Board (AHB) as Vector Manager for Hawke's Bay to:
- Design all vector control programmes in conjunction with the AHB Disease Control Manager
- Apply effective control of populations of Tb infected feral animals (vectors)
- Create buffer zones between populations of Tb infected vectors and cattle and deer herds
- Direct surveys of wild animal populations to determine the presence and/or extent of Tb infected wildlife, i.e. targeting possums, ferrets, pigs, feral cats and deer.
As manager of the vector control programme, the Regional Council does not carry out the service delivery of this work - all projects are tendered, then managed to meet compliance requirements.
Within the Hawke's Bay region, 450,000 hectares of land are under management for Tb possum control. This is divided into 45 individual AHB projects ranging in size from 2,000 hectares to 23,000 hectares. There are an additional 180,000 hectares over which wildlife surveys are being carried out.