The badger cull for bovine TB control has killed over 250,000 badgers in England since 2013, representing the UK's largest sustained wildlife killing programme.
Free-shoot culling causes wounding rates in which some badgers survive to die slowly from injuries. Cage trapping followed by shooting requires extended trap exposure time and the stress of confinement. The scale of the cull means the aggregate welfare burden is enormous. Scientific evidence for the cull's effectiveness in reducing bovine TB is disputed, making the welfare cost harder to justify on public health grounds. Vaccination represents a welfare-positive alternative with growing evidence of effectiveness.