Summary of 2025 supplementary badger control operations
Published 30 July 2026
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2026
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Background
In July 2017, Defra announced [footnote 1] that as part of the government’s 25-year strategy to eradicate bovine tuberculosis and protect the livelihoods of dairy and beef farmers, Natural England could licence and authorise local farmers and landowners to carry out supplementary badger control (SBC) operations across 2 areas, over a 5-year period. This authorisation was extended to permit licensing of a third area in 2019 and seven areas in 2020. In May 2021, Defra updated its guidance to Natural England and subsequently SBC operations were authorised for a 2-year period only in 11 areas in 2021, 10 areas in 2022, 11 areas in 2023 and a further 9 areas in 2024. Any area which was issued a badger disease control licence after 1 December 2020 was not eligible for a supplementary control licence.
Badger control licences are required to be re-authorised each year. In 2025, SBC licences were re-authorised to take place for a second year in 9 areas.
Operations were authorised to take place between 1 June 2025 and 14 January 2026. This document sets out the outcomes of these operations in those areas.
Effectiveness
Estimates for the number of badgers to be removed from each licensed area were provided by Defra for the purpose of giving advice to Natural England for the setting of minimum and maximum numbers. The estimates, methodologies and rationale used were published in October 2025[footnote 2].
As in previous years, Natural England monitored the progress in licensed areas. The numbers of badgers removed from accessible land parcels were reported on a regular basis. This provided information on the number of badgers dispatched, the spatial distribution of badger control activity and the effort that was deployed. This enabled an assessment of the progress that each badger control company was making towards achieving the minimum and maximum numbers and allowed Natural England to assess whether resources were being effectively deployed across accessible land.
Progress towards minimum and maximum numbers
In 2025, 5 SBC areas met the required level of culling effort and spatial coverage across their areas. All of these areas achieved their minimum number and did not exceed their maximum.
Four areas, namely Area 45- Derbyshire, Area 47- Herefordshire, Area 50- Shropshire and Area 51- Somerset ceased operations below their required level of effort.
In 2025, all SBC areas met the required level of spatial coverage and were deemed effective.
The number of badgers removed against the minimum and maximum number is presented in Table 1 for each licensed area.
Table 1: total number of badgers removed per licensed area
| Area | Minimum Number | Maximum Number | Badgers Removed | Removed by controlled shooting | Removed by cage trapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area 45 - Derbyshire | 425 | 1675 | 462 | 440 | 22 |
| Area 46 - Gloucestershire | 54 | 284 | 107 | 104 | 3 |
| Area 47 - Herefordshire | 284 | 1236 | 406 | 394 | 12 |
| Area 48 - Leicestershire | 82 | 432 | 155 | 143 | 12 |
| Area 49 - Oxfordshire | 128 | 621 | 185 | 155 | 30 |
| Area 50 – Shropshire | 256 | 2382 | 1043 | 989 | 54 |
| Area 51 – Somerset | 56 | 1746 | 506 | 461 | 45 |
| Area 52 – Warwickshire | 200 | 1044 | 294 | 284 | 10 |
| Area 53 - Wiltshire | 64 | 329 | 103 | 84 | 19 |
Safety of the operations
Operations in all licensed areas were carried out to agreed standards of public safety. All contractors continued to receive updates prior to the commencement of operations in 2025 on the requirements of the published best practice guides, lessons learned and safety. In relation to the use of firearms, no incidents affecting public safety were reported in any of the areas.
Humaneness of controlled shooting
In SBC areas, Natural England assesses compliance with the standards set out in the best practice guides for the controlled shooting of free-ranging badgers and cage trapping and dispatch of badgers through risk-based monitoring. Monitoring is conducted by exception only and reserved for any new contractors or where information has been received on licensed activities.
It is difficult to make an inference on the likely suffering of the whole population of controlled shot badgers in 2025 using the monitoring data currently available. Only a relatively small number of controlled shooting events was observed by Natural England monitors (n=4), but the level of accuracy compares favourably with previous years. No compliance issues were identified during monitoring visits and there were no observed shooting events where a badger was shot at but not retrieved. There were 4 self-reported contractor shooting events where a badger was shot at but not retrieved. Natural England investigated these shooting events to ascertain the circumstances and concluded the badgers were wounded and lost. This represents 0.2% of the total number of badgers removed by controlled shooting.
Sett Surveys
Sett surveys were required by all SBC areas prior to licensing or re-authorisation in 2025.
Natural England Director of Science advice on the outcome of supplementary badger control 2025
The badger population reductions achieved in the 9 supplementary badger control areas in 2025 have been evaluated on the basis of the numbers and locations of badgers culled, the numbers culled against effort over time and our assessment of the level and spatial distribution of culling effort deployed.
Based on the available information, 5 out of the 9 areas deployed a sufficient level of spatial distribution of culling effort, coverage and removed the minimum number of badgers set, and I concluded that they have completed effective supplementary culls.
In 4 areas, Area 45- Derbyshire, Area 47- Herefordshire, Area 50- Shropshire and Area 51- Somerset, whist these companies did not achieve the target level of effort, the spatial distribution of this effort was sufficient and the areas met the coverage target along with the minimum number of badgers set. As such, I concluded that effective culls have also taken place in these 4 areas.
Dr Pete Brotherton
Director of Science, Natural England
Chief Veterinary Officer’s advice on the outcome of Supplementary Badger Control 2025
In 2025, I continued to provide oversight and advice on disease control for the 9 (areas 45 to 53) supplementary badger cull areas. Operations ceased in areas 4 to 9 and 33 to 43 in 2025.
The badger population reductions achieved in the 9 areas have been evaluated based on the numbers and locations of badgers culled, the numbers culled against effort over time, and Natural England’s independent assessments of the level and spatial distribution of culling effort deployed.
Natural England’s Director of Science and I concluded that all supplementary cull areas carried out an effective cull in 2025, despite some areas marginally missing either their minimum number or effort targets. Areas 45 to 53 completed their licences in 2025, and all supplementary badger control licences have now ended.
Prof. Christine Middlemiss
Chief Veterinary Officer