Environment Secretary Owen Paterson faced scathing criticism in Parliament today, in response to yesterday's written ministerial statement on the pilot badger cull in Somerset.

In his statement, the environment secretary acknowledged that shooters employed by the pilot zone's cull company had not managed to reach their target of killing 70 percent of badgers in the area. Markspeople in Somerset managed to kill 850 badgers, 40 percent of their initial target, but new population estimates introduced in Wednesday's statements suggest there are around a thousand fewer badgers in the Somerset cull zone than was previously thought. Based on this latest recount, 59 percent of badgers in the cull zone were shot over the 40 day trial cull.  

Nevertheless, Paterson said "The pilot has been safe, humane and effective in delivering a reduction in the badger population of just under 60 per cent... The Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) has advised that the 60 per cent reduction this year will deliver clear disease benefits."

However, as a result of the shortcomings, cull companies in Somerset and Gloucestershire have applied to Natural England for extensions to their licenses. As the second trial cull in Gloucestershire is still ongoing, no official figures have been made available.

Facing accusations that the first trial cull had failed and Defra is now "moving the goalposts" to make cull data appear more palatable, Mr Paterson said in a BBC interview on Wednesday, "The badgers moved the goalposts." He added, "We're dealing with a wild animal, subject to the vagaries of the weather and disease and breeding patterns," to which BBC Spotlight's Justin Leigh replied, "Doesn't that make the cull ridiculous in itself then, if you cannot work around [these factors]?"

During questioning in the House of Commons on Thursday, Paterson was harangued by Labour and Green MPs who questioned Defra's last minute alterations to population estimates and the soundness of the coalition's controversial culling policy. Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman called for Mr Paterson's resignation over the mismanagement of a "morally reprehensible" cull. Sheernan accused Defra of being "ineffective, inefficient [and] ignoring scientific opinion."  

Badger Trust opposes extension appeals

The environment secretary has been supported by the NFU and landowners' lobby group the Country Land and Business Association, who welcomed his report on Wednesday. "Government and farming are working together to start to put an end to an appalling disease that we cannot afford to ignore," said CLA deputy-president Henry Robinson. "It is absolutely right that time extensions are being considered for both Somerset and Gloucestershire."

Although Mr Paterson told MPs on Thursday that the government would be "broadly supportive" of cull companies' extension appeals, on Wednesday Bindmans solicitors, acting on behalf of the Badger Trust, sent a letter to cull licensing body Natural England threatening legal action to prevent the organisation from granting extra time to those carrying out the cull.   

Bindmans said it understands that cull companies have already had to resort to expensive cage-trapping during the first six-week cull term, which will carry a much greater cost for the cull's farmer organisers, instead of the 'free-shooting' method being trialled by Defra. The solicitors pointed to Defra guidance to Natural England, which states cull activity must be limited to a six-week period,  and to warnings from Defra' science advisory committee that suggest the longer culling is carried out, the greater the potential for ill-effects, including the wider spread of disease amongst badgers.

Martin Surl, Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire has also opposed an extension of the cull due to concerns over policing costs and the risk that cull companies "may become more desperate in their attempts to shoot their quota of badgers."  

In Parliament, Paterson claimed the cull, which forms part of Defra's bovine TB eradication strategy, is necessary to safeguard the future of a "dynamic, productive and successful dairy industry" in England.