Badger culling in the United Kingdom

Badger culling in the United Kingdom is being trialled as a way to reduce badger numbers in a set area, in the hope of controlling the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB).

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. The disease affects cattle and other farm animals (including pigs, goats, deer, sheep, alpacas and llamas), and some species of wildlife including badgers, deer and a few domestic pets. 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.

In October 2013, culling in England was controversially trialled 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.

In August 2015 it was announced culling would be rolled out in Dorset with a target of 615 to 835 badgers being culled there, while also being continued in Gloucestershire and Somerset. Licences were granted to allow six weeks of continuous culling in the three counties until 31 January. In December 2015, Defra released documents confirming the badger cull had "met government targets" with 756 animals culled in Dorset, 432 in Gloucestershire and 279 in Somerset. As of December 2015, there is no UK-wide policy of badger culling.

European badgers (Meles meles) are not an endangered species, but they are among the most legally-protected wild animals in the UK, being shielded under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats.

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