Deeply controversial badger culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire have entered their second year, Defra has confirmed, as shooting began last night.

Contractors in the two zones must kill between 931 and 1,876 badgers, a lower total than last year's targets, which were not met despite extensions of several weeks being awarded in both counties. Anti-cull campaigners have complained that, after population estimates repeatedly shifted both before and during last year's culls, "kill targets have [once more] been set without an accurate idea of actual badger numbers."  

Even so, Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss told Parliament on Tuesday morning, "We are pursuing a comprehensive strategy supported by leading vets which includes cattle movement controls, vaccinating badgers in edge areas and culling badgers where the disease is rife. This is vital for the future of our beef and dairy industries, and our nation's food security."

"At present we have the highest rates of bovine TB in Europe. Doing nothing is not an option and that is why we are taking a responsible approach to dealing with bovine TB."

NFU president Meurig Raymond wrote to union members to inform them that culling had resumed on Tuesday. Raymond claimed that "a workable cattle vaccine is still ten years away" and that "No one would choose to kill badgers if there was an effective alternative in areas where TB is rife."

However, Badger Trust spokesperson Dominic Dyer greeted the news "with sadness and anger." He said, "This is a triumph of politics, pride and persecution over common sense and science. Potentially, almost 2,000 badgers could die - that's more than last year - and for what?

"These culls are ill-conceived and incompetently managed, and will contribute nothing to reducing bTB in cattle. Here we have a government and the National Farmers' Union pushing ahead with a policy simply because they don't have the guts to admit that it is wrong, and a complete and utter disaster for the farming industry, tax payer and the protection of our native wildlife."

Last month, the country's chief veterinary officer told campaigners that in Wales, where proposals for a badger cull were abandoned after a scientific review, cattle-based measures had led to a 48 percent drop in the number of cattle slaughtered due to bTB in five years.

Badger Trust spokesperson Dyer continued, "The same discredited arguments are being wheeled out. They say no country has beaten bTB without culling wildlife - not true, the UK did it in the 1960s and 1970s. They say falling bTB rates in Ireland show that culling works - but the same reduction has been achieved in Northern Ireland without any culling. They say that 'closed' herds are being infected, so it can only be the badgers spreading the disease - but the bTB skin test misses 20% of infected cows, meaning they never know for sure that a herd isn't hiding a sick cow."

Defra officials maintain that the four-year 'pilot culls' form part of a "comprehensive strategy" to rid England of bovine TB, but leading independent scientists who oversaw previous trials have issued strong criticism of the culls. The architects of the Randomised Badger Culling Trials, conducted under the previous Labour government, have been joined in recent months by members of the Independent Expert Panel, which judged that last year's culls had failed on the grounds of humaneness and effectiveness.

Defra has not appointed independent monitors comparable to the IEP to oversee culling this year, but will instead rely on AHVLA and cull licensing body Natural England for assessment, though there are still plans to extend culling to new areas if the Conservatives are successful in the next general election. In late August the Administrative Court rejected a legal challenge by the Badger Trust, related to Defra's decision on independent oversight. The Trust has pledged to appeal against the ruling.

Though general statistics on bTB in cattle are published monthly by Defra, bovine TB incidence is not being measured in either cattle or badgers in cull zones as part of the two pilots.