IN Somerset, 4,335 badgers were killed in the latest cull.

In all, a total of 32,601 badgers were killed during control operations conducted in 30 areas of England between September 3 and November 1 this year, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has disclosed.

Releasing a report on the cull, former minister George Eustice said that the operations were helping to ‘achieve and maintain long-reductions in the level of TB in cattle across the South-West and Midlands’.

In the report, Natural England chief scientist Tim Hill said the operations indicate that ‘industry-led badger control continues to deliver the level of effectiveness required by the policy to be confident of achieving disease control benefits’.

Three areas in Somerset took part in the cull.