On Wednesday afternoon, cull licensing body Natural England granted the Gloucestershire cull company an eight week extension to culling.

The decision had been expected on Monday, but was delayed for unknown reasons. It follows a three week extension to culling in the Somerset pilot zone. The extensions were granted as both cull companies failed to meet their targets of shooting 70 percent of the zones' badger population within a six week period.

Critics have said the failure to meet targets within the allotted time shows that the culls have proven ineffective (markspeople managed to kill 59 percent of badgers in Somerset and 30 percent in Gloucestershire) and warned that extending culling could worsen the perturbation effect (when sick badgers flee their setts, spreading disease in areas surrounding the cull zone).

Nevertheless, Natural England said that, acting on "guidance from [the] Government derived from the bTB control policy and supplementary advice from Defra's Chief Veterinary Officer and Chief Scientific Adviser," it is now satisfied that extending the Gloucestershire cull may "help to reduce the spread of bTB in cattle [whereas] failure to extend would raise the risk of increasing bTB through perturbation." The incidence of TB either in badger or cattle populations is not being measured as part of the trial culls.  

The new licence stipulates that a minimum number of 540 and a maximum number of 940 badgers must be culled. The new licence will expire on 18th December. As the close season for cage trapping and shooting begins on 1st December, only 'free-shooting' will be permitted from 1-18 December, Natural England said. The trials were set up as a means of testing the government's chosen 'free-shooting' methodology. Although there has been no official news from the cull zones, unofficial reports suggest companies had already resorted to more expensive caged shooting during the initial six week culls.  

Responding to Natural England granting the deeply controversial extension, Humane Society International said it was "appalled," and contested NE's reasoning, claiming "prolonging the shooting is the very worst thing the government can do because it increases the risk of spreading bovine TB as badgers flee the area."

HSI's assertions seem to be supported by Defra-funded research published on Monday, which suggests leaving sick badgers alone may represent the best course of action to prevent the spread of bTB. Nevertheless, Defra has insisted that tackling the 'wildlife reservoir' of the disease must remain a priority. A spokesperson said, "We won't get on top of this terrible disease until we start dealing with the infection in badgers as well as in cattle."

Mark Jones, veterinarian and Executive Director of HSI UK commented on Wednesday, "I am appalled & flabbergasted that an eight week extension has been granted to DEFRA's badger killing fiasco in Gloucestershire. By extending culls here as well as in Somserset, the pilots are moving even more dangerously away from the recommendations of the Randomised Badger Culling Trial which were very clear - the longer you subject badgers to this sort of disruption, the greater the risk of worsening the spread of bovine TB among both badgers and cattle."

He added, "It is utterly illogical to continue with a policy that has already proven such a disaster, and flies squarely in the face of sound scientific advice. Surely somebody in Government can put a stop to Owen Paterson's badger cull madness before it's too late."

Over the weekend, the Badger Trust said it would mount a legal challenge to the proposed extension. Solicitors acting on behalf of the Trust sent Natural England a letter before action on Saturday.