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Defra confirms badger culls 'now under way' in pilot areas | Defra confirms badger culls 'now under way' in pilot areas |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Badger culls in Dorset, Somerset and Gloucestershire have got under way, the government has confirmed. | Badger culls in Dorset, Somerset and Gloucestershire have got under way, the government has confirmed. |
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has not said exactly when the culls began in the three counties. | The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has not said exactly when the culls began in the three counties. |
Dorset is a new area for the pilot cull, but it is the third year for Somerset and Gloucestershire. | Dorset is a new area for the pilot cull, but it is the third year for Somerset and Gloucestershire. |
The Wounded Badger Patrol in Gloucestershire has reported night-time shooting and seeing trapped badgers. | The Wounded Badger Patrol in Gloucestershire has reported night-time shooting and seeing trapped badgers. |
'Going clear' | |
Protesters in Dorset said they had set up a camp for those attempting to stop the cull. | Protesters in Dorset said they had set up a camp for those attempting to stop the cull. |
Natural England has issued Dorset's pilot cull licence to run from 28 August 2015 to November 2018 but has stated this may be extended further. | |
Dorset police said they had "established a positive dialogue" with the organisers. | Dorset police said they had "established a positive dialogue" with the organisers. |
Somerset and Gloucestershire are now in the third year of a five-year pilot cull. | |
Ministers and farmers insist culling is necessary to tackle the spread of bovine TB, which results in thousands of cattle being slaughtered every year. | |
David George, from the south-west branch of the National Farmers Union, said farmers have seen the number of herds with TB "going down". | |
"It's fair to say at this stage all the evidence about whether the culls are successful or failing are anecdotal on both sides." | |
He added that other measures were also being put in place by Defra to reduce the cycle of re-infection. | |
'Pointless failure' | |
Wendy Higgins, from Humane Society International, said: "The point of the culls was to find out if the culls were feasible, safe and humane to shoot a specific number of badgers over a particular period of time. | |
"The culls of year one and year two have shown a spectacular failure... We don't need to carry on pointlessly shooting badgers in order to prove what we have already seen which is that culling badgers is a pointless failure." | |
The pilot culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset aimed to find out whether badgers could be killed safely, effectively and humanely. | |
After the first year of the badger cull, an independent panel of experts found shooting badgers was not humane. | |
The panel also found controlled shooting could not deliver the level of culling needed to bring about a reduction of TB in cattle. | |
In 2014, Gloucestershire failed to reach its minimum target of 675, instead culling 274. Somerset surpassed its minimum target of 316, with 341 culled in total. | |
Badger cull targets | |
Dorset: Minimum 615, maximum 835 | |
Gloucestershire: Minimum 265, maximum 679 | |
Somerset: Minimum 55, maximum 524 | |
Source: Natural England |
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