More than 40,000 badgers to be shot as Gove doubles cull

England’s controversial badger cull has been expanded to include 10 new areas at high risk of tuberculosis in cattle.

More than 40,000 badgers could now be shot, after Environment Secretary Michael Gove approved the plans.

Culling will now take place in 32 areas across 10 counties – Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Cheshire, Somerset, Wiltshire, Staffordshire and Cumbria.

In the case of Cumbria – which is considered a low risk area – the culling has been given the go-ahead to tackle a “pocket of infection”.

The announcement comes as data published by the Government shows the rate of TB in cattle has halved in the first two cull areas since the programme began.

In Gloucestershire, the incidence of TB has fallen from 10.4% before culling started to 5.6% in the fourth year of the cull, while in Somerset it has dropped from 24% to 12%, the data shows.

Ministers have also announced they are opening a new round of applications for grants to vaccinate badgers for TB in “edge” zones around the high risk areas.

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Farming minister George Eustice said: “Today’s figures showing reductions in TB cases in Somerset and Gloucestershire are evidence that our strategy for dealing with this slow moving, insidious disease is delivering results.

“Bovine TB remains one of the greatest animal health threats to the UK.

“There is no single measure that will provide an easy answer which is why we are committed to pursuing a wide range of interventions to protect the future of our dairy and beef industries and eradicate the disease within 20 years. No-one wants to be culling badgers forever so the progress reported today is encouraging.”

National Farmers’ Union vice president Stuart Roberts welcomed the news that data from the original cull areas showed a fall in TB incidence.

He said: “More than 33,000 cattle were slaughtered last year in England because of this devastating disease and more than 3,800 farms that had previously been clear of the disease were affected by it.

“We must have every option available to us to tackle bTB (Bovine TB) – including cattle testing, cattle movement restrictions, biosecurity advice, vaccination and control of the disease in wildlife.”

But the Wildlife Trusts accused the Government of “forging ahead with another year of ineffective and expensive badger culling” without waiting for the outcome of a review.

Ellie Brodie, senior policy manager, said: “We’re calling on the Government to invest in medicine, not marksmen. The costs of killing badgers are much higher than vaccinating them – it costs £496.51 to kill a badger compared with £82 to vaccinate a badger.”

Adam Grogan, head of the RSPCA’s wildlife department, said: “We’re appalled that the Government’s inhumane and ill-considered bTB policy has been ramped up even further.

“Official data from 2016 demonstrates the pointlessness of culling badgers, with only 0.05% (46) of 994 culled badger carcasses tested found to be carrying the disease.”