Shropshire Badger Group express dismay as 2,873 badgers culled in the county last year

Defra’s recent announcement reveals at least 33,627 badgers were slaughtered in 2022 in England as part of its controversial badger cull strategy. In Shropshire, the total number of badgers killed in the county since 2013 is 10,769.

The figures confirm the fears of local and national animal welfare charities and their supporters that up to half of Britain’s total badger population has now been killed, a total of 210,555 badgers.

First implemented in 2013 in England as a highly contested measure to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle, the badger cull has been continually highlighted as an unscientific, unethical, and ineffective strategy to curb a disease that in 94% of cases spreads from cattle to cattle.

Jim Ashley, Chairman of Shropshire Badger Group said: “The latest scientific analysis of Defra’s bTB figures, published in 2022, has shown that badger culling does not work as a cattle protection strategy. Instead, restricting cattle movements and enhanced biosecurity (neither of which are mandated under current government policy) are effective at reducing rates of bTB herd breakdowns.

Already the most nature-depleted landscape of all G7 nations, Britain cannot afford to lose even more of its native species, particularly those which are vital to the health of our countryside. However, for the first time in history, badger setts across England are empty, and local Badger Groups across cull counties report cases of localised badger extinctions.

Some of these setts can be hundreds of years old and form part of our natural heritage. Their vacancy, alongside a yearly tax-payer bill of £100 million and no significant decrease in bTB herd breakdowns, is the legacy of a government strategy that has not worked.”

Government officials state that culling is carried out humanely despite monitoring only 0.36% of the badgers shot (122 out of the 33,627 badgers shot in 2022).

Jim Ashley concluded “Scientists have been working for the last 25 years on developing a vaccine for cattle and it is blindingly obvious that this vaccine should be urgently introduced to end the misery of bTB for farmers and our native wildlife. We saw how quickly a vaccine was developed against Covid when the political will was there.”

Sally Jones, Groups Co-ordinator of Badger Trust commented: “Epidemiological research has demonstrated that as few as 20% of farms are responsible for 80% of cattle movement, and large farms with over 1000 trade connections act as hubs for spreading disease. Why kill badgers when there is evidence of where to target stricter measures to protect the farm sector?

"Both Wales and Scotland have far fewer cases of bTB than England, and neither country culls badgers. Instead, they concentrate on cattle-based measures. With only 15% of English adults supporting badger culling, and bTB persisting in England despite the loss of up to half of Britain’s badgers, the government must finally accept that enough is enough – badger culling has not worked.

"Overall, the loss of badgers is a twofold tragedy, as the loss of badgers will be a loss to our British cultural heritage and our already struggling ecosystems. The beloved brock is deserving of our protection, it is not deserving of a relentless government effort to see its annihilation. This disaster has gone on for too long. Enough is enough. It is time to end the cull.”