More places in the West Country given the go-ahead for badger culling licences

The Government has announced that 11 new areas will be granted badger culling licences, including several places in the West Country.

In a bid to stop the spread of tuberculosis in cattle, culls will take place in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Wiltshire and the former county of Avon under the licences from Natural England.

The new culling areas will take the total number of licenced locations across England to 40.

The announcement comes after the publication of an independent review into the success of badger culls, which warned against 'over-emphasis' on the role wildlife plays in spreading TB.

The Government-commissioned report concluded that although culls had a clear effect on the curbing of the disease, the difference seen in cows contracting TB was modest.

Sir Charles Godfray, the professor who led the review, said the impact of cattle spreading Bovine TB to each other is a greater risk than that posed by wildlife.

However, Farming Minister and MP for Camborne and Redruth George Eustice has stressed that the spread of Bovine TB is one of the biggest issues facing agriculture and farming industries in the UK, and that all measures must be taken to curb it where possible.

News of the increased culls has been met with anger from wildlife campaigners, as projections show tens of thousands of badgers across the country could be killed.

The Badger Trust has said the continuation of badger culls makes it 'the largest destruction of protected species in living memory' and that the licences being granted during parliament's prorogation, with no means of debating the issue, is 'an unforgivable act of ecological vandalism and a national disgrace'.

The Shadow Environment Secretary has also criticised the Government's decision, arguing that badger vaccinations, cattle testing and restricted herd movement is a better strategy to stop the spread of the disease.