More than 32,000 badgers killed in autumn cull

Releasing a report on the cull, farming minister George Eustice said that the operations were helping to "achieve and maintain long-term reductions in the level of TB in cattle across the south west and Midlands".

Although Shropshire was not specified as a cull zone in the latest round, some culling has taken place in the north of the county bordering Staffordshire.

Control operations were also carried out in areas of Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Somerset and Wiltshire in 2018.

The figures, released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, show 3,979 badgers were killed in Staffordshire and 472 were killed in Cheshire.

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".

UK Chief veterninary officer Christine Middlemiss said there had been a 50 per cent fall in the number of new confirmed cattle "breakdowns" in the first areas to trial culls.

She said culling should continue in these areas for the duration of existing licenses, lasting one or two years.

"Effective" culls should be carried out in 2019 and the following two years in 10 other areas for disease control benefits to be realised, she said.

The report concludes: "The results from 2018 indicate that all 30 badger control companies have delivered the level of badger removal required to be confident of disease control benefits and that the operations were carried out to a high standard of public safety."

Mr Eustice has previously claimed the cull is starting to show results in Gloucestershire and Somerset, with drops in tuberculosis incidence.

Each cull area is set a minimum and maximum number of badgers to be shot. This is to ensure the animals are not wiped out locally, while still killing enough to be effective.