Natural England, the body who would be responsible for issuing licences to shoot badgers under Defra’s cull proposals, has expressed doubts over the efficacy of culling in reducing bovine TB in cattle. As part of its response to the Defra consultation on the cull, Natural England admitted it had a "low level of confidence" that badger culling would effectively tackle bTB. image expired

In the response it acknowledged the dreadful cost of bTB on the farming community and its wider impact; the disease costs taxpayers £90 million annually, but said it did not believe that, based on the available evidence, the Defra proposals would eradicate or significantly reduce the disease's impact.

The conservation body expressed misgivings over the methodology of Defra's proposals, saying that, as 'free-shooting' running badgers differed greatly from the methods used in the randomised culling trial (RBCT) conducted by Lord Krebs, the outcome would not be consistent with the RBCT’s 16 per cent reduction.

The independent scientific group which oversaw the trial concluded, "reductions in cattle TB incidence achieved by repeated badger culling were not sustained in the long term after culling ended and did not offset the financial costs of culling. These results … suggest that badger culling is unlikely to contribute effectively to the control of cattle TB in Britain."

Natural England instead recommended increasing cattle-based measures as per Defra’s recommendations in its bTB control strategy. To support this, it pointed out that up to 70 per cent of bTB breakdowns are of non-badger origin.

As well as questioning whether Defra’s farmer-led cull would work, the body posited that a cull could have a serious impact on wild badger populations. Badgers are a protected species and Natural England warned that populations could take decades to recover. This could incur hefty fines from the EU.

It recommended independent monitoring of the cull be carried out well beyond the pilot stage, further restricting the size of badger control areas and limiting the number of licences granted to fewer than ten a year.

Natural England did acknowledge that badgers' "role in transmitting TB to cattle cannot be ignored," and stated "in the absence, to date, of an effective cattle vaccine, all measures that are effective in minimising cross-infection between cattle and badgers must form part of any disease control strategy."