A report in the Farmers Guardian says that DEFRA Ministers are set to unveil the broad location of the two English pilot badger cull areas today.
The areas were selected by Ministers from a shortlist of ‘about eight’ submitted by the NFU and National Beef Association.
The groups of farmers in these areas, which demonstrated good levels of farmer support and the presence of boundaries to limit the negative effects of culling, will now be invited to apply to Natural England for four-year badger control licences.
Assuming the licences are granted the pilot culls, which will be independently monitored to gauge the humaneness and effectiveness of controlled shooting, are set to begin in the early autumn.
If they are deemed to be successful, up to a further 10 cull areas could be sanctioned each year from 2013.
Natural England will give the local public an ‘opportunity to comment’ on the proposed areas.
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