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Badger cull costs revealed

it's been revealed that last year's badger cull in Gloucestershire and Somerset cost taxpayers more than £3,000 for every animal killed.

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DEFRA defends cost of badger cull

DEFRA has defended the high cost of last year's badger culls Credit: PA

It's been revealed that last year's badger cull in Somerset and Gloucestershire cost taxpayers £6.3 million - an average of £3,350 for every animal killed.

The Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs has justified the figures.

England has the highest incidence of bovine TB in Europe. The cost of the badger culls need to be seen in the context of the devastating scale of the threat bovine TB poses to our farming industry and food security - £500 million over the last decade. Doing nothing is not an option.

We are pursuing a comprehensive strategy, including tighter cattle movement controls, badger vaccination and culling.

Many of the costs associated with the pilot culls last year were one-offs and have not been repeated this year.

– Defra spokesperson

It adds that the costs were largely due to ensuring the pilot culls were rigorously monitored for safety and humaneness to provide robust data for the Independent Expert Panel to assess.

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