Seven New Badger Cull Licences Approved In England

Extra badger culling pilots are being rolled out to additional parts of the country to tackle tuberculosis in cattle.

Seven more licences have been granted for culls in parts of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire.

Operations are already "under way", the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.

It follows schemes in three other areas of Dorset, Gloucestershire and Somerset.

The move forms part of the Government's 25-year strategy to prevent cattle from catching bovine TB from badgers.

A long-term study has found that culling 70% of badgers would be needed to reduce the disease in herds by 16%.

Opponents argue the measure is unscientific, ineffective and inhumane, with badgers potentially suffering before death or dying from infection or starvation if they are not fatally wounded.

But ministers insist "proactive" culling is necessary to tackle the disease which it says costs the taxpayer more than £100m each year.

Farming minister George Eustice said the cull "is delivering results, with more than half the country on track to be free of the disease by the end of this Parliament".

Last year, more than 28,000 cattle were slaughtered in England to control the disease.

National Farmers' Union president, Meurig Raymond, said bovine TB remained a huge threat to beef and dairy farmers.

"Today's announcement means that badger control will now be taking place in 10% of the area where cattle are at the highest risk of contracting bovine TB," he said.

"There is still a huge amount of work ahead to ensure the eradication of bovine TB from this country," he added.

The League Against Cruel Sports said the culling expansion was "misguided".

"Instead of shooting badgers we need to be looking to Wales as an example, where no culling takes place," it said.

"Instead, rigorous TB testing, strict cattle movement control and tight bio-security has been more successful in preventing the spread of TB in cattle."