An expert panel reviewing the results of England's controversial badger cull found that a significant number of badgers did not die a humane death.
Shooting as a humane killing method was suspected by wildlife advocates from the beginning, and the government panel confirms their concerns. The Tory government favored shooting as a low-cost alternative to trapping or vaccinating the mostly nocturnal animals. A third of the badgers were shot in a non-fatal part of their anatomy and two out of nine (22%) had to be shot twice. Head of the Badger Trust said the policy was implemented for political, not practical reasons and was carried out in "an arrogant and careless fashion which has now been officially declared a failure." Both the Gloucestershire and Somerset kills failed to reach the desired 70% effectiveness even after the badger population was revised sharply downward and the culls extended for weeks. 58% of badgers were killed in the Somerset cull and only 30% in the Gloucestershire pilot kill, both numbers lower than considered effective to stop the spread of bovine Tb. About 1700 badgers died in total. According to information
leaked to the BBC between 6.4% and 18% of animals shot took more than five minutes to die. The standard set by the cull authorities was no more than 5%. An analysis of the governments own data shows that a program of vaccinating badgers would be less expensive than culls when the cost of policing highly unpopular culls is added into the cost comparisons. The government estimates badger vaccination would cost £2,250 per km²/yr. The pilot cull was estimated to cost £1000, but policing cost were estimated at £1429 making vaccination cheaper.
