The pilot badger cull in Gloucestershire has been deemed a failure after only 39% of the badgers estimated to be in the area were killed, missing out on the minimum 70% target.
The failure to reach the target means it is "very likely" that the risk of tuberculosis in cattle has gone up, not down, according to a leading scientist.
However, the environment secretary, Owen Paterson, told Parliament that the extended cull had been a success. "The extension in Gloucestershire has been successful in meeting its aim in preparing the ground for a fully effective four-year cull," Paterson said. "The independent panel of experts will now consider the information collected during the pilots on the safety, effectiveness and humaneness of controlled shooting. This will inform my decision on the wider roll-out of badger control in those parts of England most severely affected by this disease."
The extended Gloucestershire cull ended on 30 November, three weeks earlier than planned due to very low numbers of badgers being shot. Natural England revoked the extension licence, with the agreement of the culling company and the National Farmers Union (NFU), but licences permitting six-week culls over four years in Gloucestershire and Somerset remain in place.
But Jude Walker from Gloucestershire Against Badger Shooting said the cull was "ill conceived and ill thought-out, expensive and won't help cattle farmers one iota". She went on to say, "What we're yet to hear and learn is how much this has cost, but the main cost has been in our wildlife."
Prof Rosie Woodroffe, a key member of the team that conducted an earlier, decade-long trial of badger culling, said the £1m spent on policing just in the first six weeks of culling in Gloucestershire could have secured five years of volunteer-led badger vaccination over a similarly large area. "Vaccination by volunteers is cheaper than culling and it also builds bridges between farmers and wildlife lovers, instead of setting them at odds," she said.
