Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the proportion of culled badgers that are culled by free shooting, (b) the impact of free shooting on the spread of Bovine TB, and (c) the animal welfare implications of free shooting.

The number of badgers culled, and the proportion of those removed by free shooting, compared to those that are cage trapped and dispatched are published annually on gov.uk and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bovine-tb-controlling-the-risk-of-bovine-tb-from-badgers#monitoring-and-evaluation.

The UK Chief Veterinary Officer and Natural England’s Chief Scientist have concluded that all existing cull areas have delivered the level of effectiveness, according to coverage and effort, required to be confident of achieving disease control benefits.

Based on the monitoring activity provided by Natural England, the Chief Veterinary Officer's view is that the likelihood of suffering in badgers culled by licensed controlled shooting is broadly within the range of those reported for hunting or killing of other terrestrial mammals.