Badger culling in Britain has ended – but will it last?
The government’s decision not to renew the last culling licence in Cumbria has finally ended one of the country’s most disastrous wildlife control policies.
After 13 years during which more than a quarter of a million badgers were brutally shot across large swathes of England in a deeply flawed attempt to control the spread of bovine TB in cattle, the guns have fallen silent, and those badgers that remain will hopefully be given the space and time to recover.
The move signals a recognition that killing badgers has failed to deliver the promised disease-control benefits. Scientific reviews and long-term data have repeatedly raised doubts about the effectiveness of widespread culling, while concerns about ecological disruption and animal welfare have only intensified. The Labour party itself labelled badger culling as ‘ineffective’ in its 2024 election manifesto.
However, concerns persist about what might happen in the future. While no new intensive or supplementary cull licences will be issued for now, the door remains open for culling to be reintroduced under different guises or in response to political pressure, and the proposed expansion of badger vaccination keeps the spotlight on badgers as a problem that needs to be dealt with, even though the credible evidence says otherwise.
Without a clear commitment to end badger culling for good, and a big shift in government messaging, uncertainty remains for both badgers and those working to protect them.
Badger culling could also be introduced in Northern Ireland and by the new administration in Wales, in spite of the abject failure of the policy that has been pursued in England.
Commenting on the situation, Born Free’s Head of Policy Dr Mark Jones said: “The ending of badger culling licences marks a welcome and long-overdue moment. But for it to represent a genuine turning point, the governments in Westminster, Cardiff and Stormont must firmly commit to non-lethal, science-led approaches for bovine TB control in the long term. Over the past 13 years we have witnessed an unprecedented and disastrous assault on our national badger population, with no clear evidence for any disease control benefit. This must never be allowed to happen again.”
Born Free has consistently campaigned for evidence-led, ethical and humane bovine TB control policy that focuses on cattle-based measures.