12,048 badgers have been killed in Gloucestershire since the cull began in 2013.
The original cull area (zone 1) in West Gloucestershire, along with the Somerset (zone 2), began in September 2013 and finally ended after 9 years of intensive badger culling on 31st January 2022. There are still three operating cull zones in Gloucestershire, with five additional zones encroaching county lines.
DEFRA minimum and maximum numbers for badger cull zones in 2022:
Gloucestershire Zone 9 (North Cotswold) Minimum 219, Maximum 1118
Gloucestershire Zone 29 (Stroud-area) Minimum 172, Maximum 878
Gloucestershire Zone 46 (Forest of Dean) Minimum 201, Maximum 427
Zones 3-31 are undergoing supplementary badger culling, meaning they’ve completed the first 4 years of intensive badger culling and are now operating on a supplementary licence of either two or five years.
Zones 32-61 are in their second, third or fourth year of badger culling
Zones 62-72, 11 new badger cull zones were added in 2022
Glos zone 9 (North Cotswold) is entering into its 8th year of badger culling and has two more years on its supplementary cull licence. Badger culling in this zone should finish January 2025.
Glos zone 29 (Stroud area) is entering into its 6th year of badger culling. It has one final year on its supplementary cull licence and should end in January 2024.
Glos zone 46 (Forest of Dean) is entering into its 3rd year of badger culling, still on its “intensive” licence. This is an 6-8 week long mass attempt to eradicate all the badgers in the zone, running roughly from late August to November. After zone 46’s intensive licence ends in 2024, we anticipate it entering supplementary culling for an additional 2 years.
