Last Updated on 23 September 2018 by Badger
With the year-on-year extension of the badger cull, you may ask “Where is the badger cull taking place in 2018?”
The answer is, it’s taking place in 32 zones across 11* counties. Click here to see the licences.
Red counties are currently culling, orange counties (that had hoped to be culling this year) may well be culling next year.
A red county does not mean that culling is taking place throughout the entire county, (although for Devon this isn’t far off reality) but indicates that culling is taking place within that county.
In some of the counties where culling was already taking place, new areas have been given the green light, resulting in thirty-two zones running across possibly eleven counties.
Appalling as this is, things could have been even worse. Of the eight new counties that hoped to be included, only Staffordshire and possibly a small area of Shropshire will see culling this year.
* Cull licences do not necessarily follow county borders. Although there is no official confirmation of culling in Shropshire, it is believed that the Staffordshire license covers some land just over the border in Shropshire.
Avon, Berkshire, Derbyshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. will not have to face culls in their county before next year.
But illegal culling and persecution do happen, so wherever you are, stay vigilant.
Counties where culling is taking place are:
- Cheshire
- Cornwall
- Cumbria
- Devon
- Dorset
- Gloucestershire
- Herefordshire
- Somerset
- Shropshire? *
- Staffordshire
- Wiltshire
The following figures exclude the original West Somerset and West Gloucestershire zones which are running on supplementary licences and Cumbria which has not been set minimum and maximum targets.
The minimum number of badgers to be killed is 24,316 and the maximum 40,982.
One of the new Devon zones has the lowest minimum of zero and the new Cornwall zone has the highest maximum of 4,658.
The count below is based on the county name given in the licence. It does not take account of the fact that some licences run over county borders. Where this happens, the licence is issued under the name of the county with the largest amount of land covered by that licence.
| County | Zones | Minimum | Maximum |
| Cheshire | 1 | 147 | 434 |
| Cornwall | 3 | 3,467 | 5,252 |
| Devon | 12 | 8,635 | 13,867 |
| Dorset | 3 | 2,459 | 5,518 |
| Gloucestershire | 2 | 1,191 | 2,506 |
| Herefordshire | 1 | 165 | 433 |
| Somerset | 3 | 2,945 | 4,432 |
| Staffordshire | 1 | 3,184 | 4,321 |
| Wiltshire | 3 | 2,123 | 4,219 |
| Grand Total | 29 | 24,316 | 40,982 |