23 August 2016
Badger culls are to be carried
out in five new areas of England in a bid to control bovine TB, the BBC has
learnt.
Shooting of badgers will begin in
early September in South Devon, North Devon, North Cornwall, West Dorset, and
South Herefordshire, the BBC understands.
Culling is part of the
government's 25-year-strategy to eradicate the disease, but opponents say there
is no evidence culling is effective.
Dorset, Gloucestershire and
Somerset are already practising culling.
The Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) would not confirm the selections had been made
but said it was "currently considering applications for further badger
control licences as part of the usual licensing process".
However, the BBC understands that
culling companies have already been selected, and marksmen trained for the new
locations.
Tony Francis, a farmer who had TB
in his herd near Okehampton in Devon, said he had signed up to one of the new
cull zones to try to prevent the disease from returning.
'Take control'
"It's an issue which has
been going on for decades," he said.
"No-one has really got on
top of it. I think the agricultural industry feel we've got to try and take
control of it."
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