Badger culling in the United Kingdom

A European badger (Meles meles)

Badger culling in the United Kingdom is permitted under licence, within a set area and timescale, as a way to reduce badger numbers in the hope of controlling the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB).[1] Humans can catch bTB, but public health control measures, including milk pasteurisation and the BCG vaccine, mean it is not a significant risk to human health.[2] The disease affects cattle and other farm animals, some species of wildlife including badgers and deer, and some domestic pets such as cats. Geographically, bTB has spread from isolated pockets in the late 1980s to cover large areas of the west and south-west of England and Wales in the 2010s. Some people believe this correlates with the lack of badger control.[3]

A targetted cull in Pembrokeshire in Wales began in 2009, and was cancelled in 2012 afer the Welsh Labour administration concluded that culling was ineffective.[4] In October 2013, culling in England was tried in two pilot areas in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset. The main aim of these trials was to assess the humaneness of culling using "free shooting" (previous methods trapped the badgers in cages before shooting them). The trials were repeated in 2014 and 2015, and expanded to a larger area in later years.[5]

Culling is intended to manage the cost of BTB both to farmers and to the taxpayer. DEFRA compensates farmers for culled cattle, paying between £82 (for a young calf) and £1,543 (for a breeding bull), with higher values for pedigree animals, ranging up to £5,267.[6] Farmers bear other costs from a TB outbreak on their farm, and these are mandatory and uncompensated. After compensation, a TB outbreak costs the farmer a median £6,600.[7]

As of 2024, the United Kingdom has culled 210,000 badgers at a cost of £58.8 million.[4] In the same period, it culled 330,000 cattle.[8] Bovine TB compensation paid to farmers costs the UK taxpayer around £150 million per annum.[9]

  1. ^ Summary of responses to the consultation on Guidance to Natural England on licensed badger control to prevent the spread of bovine tuberculosis. Defra, published July 2017, retrieved 20 July 2017.
  2. ^ "Tuberculosis overview". BVA. 19 July 2011. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  3. ^ "Bovine TB: Simplifications debunked". 10 July 2010.
  4. ^ a b Badger culls bovine TB report, The Guardian, published 4 January 2024, accessed 4 February 2024
  5. ^ Badger cull extended in England with more than 60,000 in line of fire, The Guardian, published 7 September 2020, accessed 11 November 2020
  6. ^ Bovine TB compensation value tables, gov.uk, published 1 February 2024, accessed 4 February 2024
  7. ^ Cost of TB breakdown report, TB hub, based on figures from June 2020 in this DEFRA publication, retrieved 4 February 2024
  8. ^ Has a decade of badger culling worked?, BBC, published 4 July 2023, accessed 4 February 2024
  9. ^ APHA science blog, gov.uk, published 24 March 2023, accessed 4 February 2024