247,880 Dead: Badger Cull Hits New High as New Study Dismantles Government Rationale

New figures released by Natural England confirm what many feared: the badger cull is not slowing down.

New figures released by Natural England confirm what many feared: the badger cull is not slowing down. An additional 17,150 badgers were shot in 2024, bringing the total number killed since the cull began in 2013 to a staggering 247,880.

These latest statistics arrive as the government continues to insist that the cull is helping to control bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle. But yet again, there’s no proof that it is—and growing evidence that it isn’t.

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A Policy Built on Sand

Natural England’s figures reveal widespread inconsistencies in the cull process. In 2024:

• Seven cull areas failed to reach their minimum kill targets—including two that have failed every single year since 2019.

• Six intensive zones reduced their targets mid-operation.

• The cull contractors themselves—not Natural England—set and amend these kill targets, revealing just how unscientific the entire process has become.

These are not signs of a policy that is working. In fact, in some regions, the number of badgers is now so low that contractors have struggled to find enough animals to meet even the reduced targets.

And crucially, none of the badgers killed were tested for bTB. After a quarter of a million deaths, the government still cannot say if the cull has had any meaningful impact on the spread of the disease.

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New Scientific Paper Discredits Cull Just Days After Figures Released

In a striking coincidence of timing, a new scientific analysis was published at almost the same time Natural England’s figures dropped—and it lands a devastating blow to the cull’s already crumbling rationale.

Researchers—including veterinary disease expert Professor Paul Torgerson and conservation biologist Tom Langton—re-examined data from the influential Randomised Badger Cull Trial (RBCT), which has long been used to justify England’s mass badger killings.

Their findings? No evidence that badger culling reduces bTB in cattle.
They argue that previous government-endorsed conclusions—dating back to a 2006 analysis of the RBCT—were based on flawed assumptions and incomplete data. By applying more plausible and rigorous statistical models, Torgerson’s team found the central pillar of the cull policy to be unsupported.

Following their study, the original authors of the 2006 paper published a re-evaluation defending their conclusions. But again, Torgerson’s team responded with a new Comment paper, stating that “substantial problems” remain and that more accurate analysis still points to no measurable impact of culling on disease levels in cattle.

The implications are profound:

“The significance of our findings extends to several dozen papers written since 2006 that use the 2006 findings to build a theoretical case that badger interventions are a necessary part of bovine TB control in cattle—when they are not,” said Torgerson.

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Cattle, Not Badgers, Are the Problem

This growing body of evidence reinforces what has long been known but politically ignored: over 94% of bovine TB transmission is cattle to cattle.

Yet the policy continues to scapegoat wildlife while failing to tackle the real issue—inadequate testing, movement controls, and a lack of cattle vaccination.

The UK public has been told repeatedly that badger culling is a necessary evil. The reality is that it’s an expensive distraction. The cost of the cull is already estimated in the hundreds of millions, and projections suggest the policy could waste over £1 billion by 2030.

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A Tipping Point for Public and Political Pressure

Meanwhile, the public appetite for this policy is rapidly eroding. Protect the Wild’s petition calling for an immediate end to the cull reached 100,000 signatures in May 2025, triggering the requirement for a parliamentary debate. A date is yet to be confirmed—but calls are growing louder for the government to finally justify its actions in the face of both public opposition and scientific scrutiny.

The release of Natural England’s kill figures and Torgerson’s paper within the same week paints a bleak but increasingly unavoidable picture:

The cull is not based on science. It’s not working. And it’s time it was stopped.

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• And our Govt petition to end the Badger cull has passed 100k signatures - we’re now waiting for a debate to be scheduled in Parliament

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