Licences to cage-trap and mark badgers for bovine TB vaccination
Register for licences to cage-trap and mark badgers (Meles meles) for vaccinating them against bovine tuberculosis (TB) to help prevent the spread of disease.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
Badgers can be given an injection of the badger Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine to help prevent the spread of disease.
Badgers are a protected species, so you need a licence to capture them before they are vaccinated.
You also need a licence to temporarily mark a badger to show it has been vaccinated or assessed as unfit for vaccination.
This page gives details on how to register for the 2 licences:
- CL48 is issued by Defra and allows you to use cage traps to capture badgers
- CL49 is issued by Natural England and allows you to temporarily mark badgers
You need to register and be approved as an authorised person to use these licences.
If your registration is successful, you will receive the relevant licence for the activity you plan to do (either cage trapping only or cage trapping and marking). For example, if you’re approved to cage trap and mark badgers, you will receive both licences.
How to register
Register by completing the form linked on this page.
You cannot act under either of these licences until you’ve received written confirmation that you are an authorised person.
Before you register you must:
- complete the Bovine TB: Badger vaccination training
- be satisfied you can meet all conditions in the licences you plan to use
- be satisfied you can meet all conditions in the Additional conditions for CL48 and CL49: to protect land, species and habitats when cage-trapping or marking badgers relevant to your planned activities
If your registration is unsuccessful, or you’re not eligible to use CL48 or CL49, you can apply to Natural England for an individual licence to take and mark badgers to enable vaccination. Contact Natural England at btbvaccination@naturalengland.org.uk.
You can only register between 1 April and 30 November every year.
Get help
Defra is responsible for the authorised person registration process.
If you have queries on how to register as an authorised person, contact Defra at badger.vaccination@defra.gov.uk.
Updates to this page
Last updated 27 April 2023 + show all updates
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Updated licences CL48 and CL49 to cage-trap and mark badgers for bovine TB vaccination, registration form and the additional conditions for 2023 to 2024.
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Provided dates when the form to register for the licence to cage-trap badgers for bovine TB vaccination (CL48) is open.
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Updated licence CL48 to add new advice to conditions 1, 2 and 3, and to make conditions 8, 9 and 10 clearer.
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Clarified the role of the directing and attending vet in conditions 1 and 8.
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First published.