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 the impact of controlled shootings of badgers on the welfare of that animal population.
Reports on the humaneness, safety and effectiveness of badger culling are published annually[1].
The conclusion of the Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) for the 2021 season was that the likelihood of suffering in badgers culled by controlled shooting is broadly within the range of those reported for hunting or killing of other terrestrial mammals. This view was supported by Natural England’s Chief Scientist.