The government has announced that 11 new badger cull areas have been licensed, adding to the 10 already in place. Devon now has six badger culls under way, with Somerset and Wiltshire having three each, with others in Cheshire, Cornwall, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. Ministers also announced the resumption of a badger vaccination scheme in “edge” areas between high and low TB regions. However, Prof Rosie Woodroffe, at the Zoological Society of London and who conducted a landmark 10-year trial on badger culling, said: “It’s depressing that the government is pursuing badger culling over such huge areas when the benefits remain so uncertain. The government’s badger cull is flying in the face of science.” He said vaccination costs £82 per badger, compared to £6,800 per culled animal.

Source: The Guardian September 11, 2017 14:00 UTC