Badgers and Foxes: Farms

(asked on 29th April 2025) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help reduce harms done by (a) foxes and (b) badgers to agricultural property.


Answered by
Mary Creagh Portrait
Mary Creagh
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 8th May 2025

It is lawful for farmers and landowners to manage foxes causing damage to property, so long as this is done in a lawful and humane way. Advice on protecting property from damage by foxes is included in this Natural England guidance note: Foxes, moles and mink: how to protect your property from damage - GOV.UK. Badgers are a protected species. There are options to legally manage damage problems but if these are unsuccessful and the damage is serious, farmers may apply for a licence to take action to address damage problems from Natural England. There is no charge for these licences.

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