French authorities have held a public consultation over plans to renew the licence to cull badgers in the Somme, amid claims the animals are damaging crops and farm machinery.
The prefecture of the Somme said a maximum of 1,500 badgers could be culled in the northern French district using a combination of trapping and shooting.
“The badger is a species in expansion in certain subdivisions of the Somme, which causes significant crop damage, poses a safety problems through road collisions as well as damage to agricultural machinery,” said the prefecture.
The consultation proposes to start culling operations some time between 1 June and 15 September.
Badger-culling operations have taken place annually in the Somme since 2004.
Since then, 8,702 badgers have been culled in the prefecture, either by specially trained marksmen, using shotguns, or through the use of trapping.
More than 50,000 people on the website Change.org have signed a petition calling for an end to badger culling in the Somme.
The French Society for the Study and Protection of Mammals (SFEPM) described the cull ing operation as an “organised massacre of badgers”, which was “absurd, useless and idiotic”.
UK RESPONSE TO TB
In England, the government is considering farmer-led applications to extend the badger cull to more counties.
Natural England, the badger culling licensee, said a public consultation attracted 939 responses. More than two-thirds raised concerns that businesses could lose out if people avoided areas where badger culling operations were taking place.