Badger Culling and Welfare: The Science and the Ethics

The badger cull in the UK is one of the most contested wildlife management interventions in Europe, with significant welfare implications for badgers and ongoing scientific debate.

Key Facts

England has killed over 230,000 badgers since the cull began in 2013, aiming to reduce bovine TB
The Independent Expert Panel found that 6-18% of culled badgers were not dead within 5 minutes of shooting
Perturbation effect: disturbing badger social groups increases TB spread into new areas
The Republic of Ireland has used vaccination alongside culling with comparable TB reduction outcomes
BCVA and many wildlife scientists now advocate vaccination as the primary badger intervention

Welfare Considerations

Free-shooting of badgers produces a significant proportion of slow deaths. The IEP's finding that up to 18% of shot badgers were not dead within five minutes — despite shooter training — represents a serious and systematic welfare failure. These are mobile animals shot in low-light conditions at variable distances; precise marksmanship is genuinely difficult. Cage-trapping followed by controlled shooting significantly improves welfare outcomes but is more resource-intensive. The availability of effective vaccination (DIVA test-enabled BCG) makes the welfare cost of lethal culling increasingly ethically indefensible.

What You Can Do

Support the Badger Trust and similar organisations funding vaccination programme alternatives
Write to your MP or local assembly member calling for an end to the badger cull
Oppose bTB policies that rely primarily on culling over vaccination and cattle movement controls
Donate to badger rehabilitation centres treating cull survivors and injured animals
Engage with farm-level TB biosecurity improvements as a complementary strategy to reduce reliance on culling