Hopefully 2021 will be the last year for NEW large area cull licenses

This is both good and bad news; badger culling will eventually reduce, but it will continue for many years!  Hopefully there will be no, or very few, new licenses this year, but existing licenses will run for their 4 year term,. Short term supplementary licenses may still be issued for years 5 and 6.  The chief will also probably retain the ability to have localised badger culls in what they define as hot spots or endemic areas of persistent cattle bTB.  As usual exact government plans are still quite vague, and whether large scale badger vaccination will be used as a cull follow up to culling isn’t clear.  Cattle vaccination trials should be starting, but again, I haven’t seen any details of when or how this will be done.  Bob, 17th May 2021