The Department of Agriculture culled 3,758 badgers so far this year, with 5,258 badgers removed in 2022, figures released by Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue show.

Cork saw the highest number of badgers removed of any county over 2022 at 703 and a further 525 have been culled to date in 2023.

Westmeath was second in cull terms both in 2022 and so far this year, with the county’s badger culls coming in at 468 and 364 for the respective years.

The only county to have seen more badgers culled this year to date was Kilkenny, where 51 have been removed.

There have been 164 badgers culled in TB hotspot Wicklow to date in 2023, as more than one in every six herds in the county had the disease in the 12 months up to July.

The current stage of the Department’s 10-year TB eradication shifts the focus on badgers away from culling and towards vaccinations.

Last year, there were more badgers vaccinated than there were culled.

Vaccination

Minister McConalogue stated that the State’s badger vaccination efforts, which began in 2019, are being done on the back of “extensive research” undertaken with Department funding.

“The studies showed that vaccination of badgers is most effective in areas with lower rates of TB prevalence among both badgers and cattle,” he commented in response to a question from Social Democrats’ leader Holly Cairns.

“This means, however, that some high TB incidence areas remain unsuitable for vaccine. Badger culling will continue in these areas in 2024 as the need arises.”

TB eradication programme

The Minister’s badger cull figures also come at a time when Northern Ireland is reporting a rising incidence of TB in badger populations.

Any badgers that are dispatched as part of the programme are put down humanely with the use of a firearm or by a veterinarian-administered injection.

Carcases of dispatched badgers are then sent to veterinary labs for examination.