Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
(asked on 6th July 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many badgers were culled in 2024 and 2025 in an effort to prevent the spread of tuberculosis in cattle; and of those badgers, how many were subsequently confirmed to have had tuberculosis.
Answered by
Baroness Hayman of Ullock
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The number of badgers culled under licence for bovine TB control purposes is published annually on GOV. UK. In 2024, the published total was 17,150.
Data on the numbers culled under licence in 2025 will be published in due course.
Badgers removed through intensive culling in the High Risk Area and Edge Area are not routinely submitted for M. bovis testing. No badgers were tested in these areas in 2024. Although some badgers were tested in 2025, the results are not yet known, as the study has not yet been completed.
Subject to capacity, badgers removed through culling operations in the Low Risk Area are sent to APHA laboratories for M. bovis testing. Not every badger removed through Low Risk Area operations may be tested for M. bovis.
Area name (year) | Number of badgers removed | Number of badgers tested | Number of positive badgers |
Area 54 – Lincolnshire (2024) | 54 | 46 | 3 |
Area 73 – Cumbria (2024) | 576 | 449 | 24 |
Area 73 – Cumbria (2025) | 175 | 173 | 1 |
Table 1: Number of badgers removed and tested for M. bovis in the Low Risk Area.