Newly appointed Environment Secretary Liz Truss has told ITV that the government will not be gassing badgers if controversial badger culls continue. Defra maintains that badger culling is a necessary part of its bovine TB eradication strategy.

Culls in 'pilot zones' of the South West could resume this summer, and Defra came in for criticism in May when it emerged that the department had been investigating carbon monoxide gassing as a potential means of culling badgers, though the technique was outlawed in the 1980s when it was found to be too inhumane.   

A Defra response to a freedom of information request revealed that the department had begun looking into gassing using artificial setts in a laboratory, after shooting free-running badgers yielded embarrassing results for the government in 2013. The Independent Expert Panel charged with assessing the culls found that they had failed to meet Defra's self-set criteria for effectiveness and humaneness.

Speaking in Somerset, where one of the two culls began last year, and where the environment secretary was inspecting dredging work being undertaken in the wake of the winter floods, Truss restated her support for culling badgers, but, when questioned, said Defra would not adopt gassing.  

The new environment secretary voted in favour of culling twice in Parliament last year, and expressed her determination to see that the culls continue upon taking office earlier this month, with cull licensing body Natural England providing oversight, rather than an independent panel.  

Speaking in the House of Commons on 17th July, Truss said, "The reality is that bovine TB represents a massive threat to our dairy and beef industries and we need to look at the best scientific evidence." She added that the government would continue to use "every tool in our toolbox" to tackle bovine TB.

Labour MPs criticised the secretary of state for backing a "discredited, unscientific, inhumane and ineffective" cull.