The number of herds of Scottish and other UK cattle infected with bovine tuberculosis has been "significantly" overestimated, official figures show.
Statistics for the incidence of new cases of the disease and the number of herds under restrictions following an outbreak of TB dating back to September 2011 were suspended last month after a problem was identified with data recording.
Revised figures show that the number of herds under restrictions following an outbreak in England in September 2013 was 3417, almost a third lower than the previously published figure of 4778 herds for that month.
The figures have been revised dating back to September 2011 for England, Wales and Scotland.
The number of new cases of TB has also been slightly revised downwards for both 2012, down from 5201 to 5154, and between January and September 2013 with a reduction from 3556 to 3487.
In addition, the latest figures show a slightly lower rate of new TB cases from January to November 2013 compared with the same period the previous year.
There was also a 13% reduction in the number of cattle compulsorily slaughtered in England because of TB in the January to November 2013 period, compared with January to November 2012, down from 34,896 in 2012 to 30,220 in 2013.
The Government and farmers have been pursuing a policy of culling badgers, which spread the disease to cattle, which they say is necessary to tackle rising rates of TB. But cull opponents claim it is ineffective and inhumane and that vaccination and on-farm measures should be used to curb the disease.
Dominic Dyer, policy advisor for charity Care for the Wild, said: "We're seeing reductions in all the key indicators around bTB, and all before any impact from the badger cull will be seen. A 13% reduction in the number of cattle slaughtered is an excellent achievement, so why aren't Government and farmers proudly declaring the improvements are working?"
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article