England's 13-year badger cull ends with 254,000 animals killed

Natural England confirmed on 30 July that the final licences for England’s intensive and supplementary badger culling have ended, bringing the 13‑year programme to a close. The last licence in Cumbria will not be renewed and the area will shift to vaccination, according to Chief Veterinary Officer Professor Christine Middlemiss, who noted low infection levels in the remaining badgers.

During the final season, marksmen and trap teams removed 2,897 badgers in intensive areas and a further 3,261 in supplementary zones. The Badger Trust calculates that a total of about 254,000 badgers have been killed since the policy began in 2013, representing more than half of the estimated national badger population. The charity described the cull as “one of the most devastating wildlife control programmes in British history”.

The programme was introduced to curb bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle. The Badger Trust says the evidence does not show a significant reduction in bTB, noting that in the past 12 months almost 20,000 cattle were slaughtered, nearly 2,000 new herd breakdowns were recorded and over 2,600 herds remained under movement restrictions. Former Defra minister Angela Eagle, now Environment Secretary, announced the end of the cull in Parliament, urging a focus on evidence‑led measures such as vaccination and cattle controls.