Badger Cull Ends Early After Missing Target

The Government's badger cull being piloted in Gloucestershire has ended three weeks early after failing to meet its target.

The scheme designed to stop the spread of tuberculosis in cattle fell well short of its aim of killing 70% of badgers in the pilot areas.

Shooting had been extended for eight weeks in Gloucestershire after marksmen exterminated only around 30% of the local badger population.

Natural England said it had pulled the plug early as the cull was set to miss a revised level of 58%.

Farming minister George Eustice says lessons will be learned from the cull

An extension to a trial in Somerset also failed to meet its target. Another 90 were killed there in the extra time, taking the total to 940 - an overall reduction of only 65%.

Natural England said the licence for the cull had been ended "based on the decreasing number of badgers seen by contractors over recent weeks which makes achieving a further significant reduction in the coming weeks unlikely".

"Following discussions with the NFU, the cull company and Natural England, the licence for the extension of this year's pilot cull will stop with effect from noon on Saturday," it said in a short statement.

Farming minister George Eustice told Sky News the culls would continue, with the wider scheme due to last four years.

The badger cull is designed stop the spread of bovine TB

He said: "This year has demonstrated that this can be safe, effective and humane.

"What we need to do now is learn the lessons from these two pilots to ensure that when we roll this out more widely in future years we can get close to the targets."

Defra ministers are due to explain the decision to Parliament on Monday.

The policy is backed by many farmers and vets' groups but strongly opposed by animal rights campaigners who favour vaccination.

Badger Trust spokesman Jack Reedy said it was a "humiliating and inevitable setback" for Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, the Government and the cattle industry which had "wasted the lives of many hundreds of badgers".

Queen guitarist Brian May is a leading campaigner against the cull

"This ill-advised cut-rate shambles has involved miscalculation of badger populations, manipulated time scales, huge expense for the taxpayer in policing costs, and the fiasco of repeatedly missed targets," he said.

Animal campaigner and rock star Brian May told Sky News the early end to the pilot "demonstrates very clearly that the policy doesn't work".

"There is not a lot of cause to celebrate - it's a massive train wreck."

He added: "The Government was warned that it was going to be a disaster and it is a disaster."

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