Badgers are at risk of extinction after unnecessary slaughter, the Oxfordshire Badger Group has said.

The Oxfordshire Badger Group (OBG) has warned that the badger population is at risk of local extinction in many areas of the country.

The group is a registered charity that works to celebrate and protect badgers in Oxfordshire.

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New figures released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) showed at least 33,627 badgers were slaughtered in 2022 and at least 1371 of these were in Oxfordshire.

The Government has credited the culling with leading to a “significant reduction in bovine tuberculosis (bTB)”.

However, experts have suggested the opposite is true. The disease has persisted and in some cases grown worse in some areas where badgers have been slaughtered, casting doubt on its efficacy and morality.

Many scientists blame the spread of the disease on bad farming practice and the poorly controlled movement of livestock.

As part of its aim to eradicate bTB by 2038, the Government is working on setting up badger vaccination across the country. oxfordshire Badger Group is already running a vaccination programme.

National animal welfare charities now are still concerned the badger population is rapidly declining and at risk of depletion in some areas.

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Julia Hammett, chair and trustee of Oxfordshire badger group, warned that the latest figures were “shocking”.

Ms Hammett said: “This huge death total is shocking, however at OBG we will continue to work with landowners who prefer an alternative to killing badgers via our badger vaccination scheme, educate the public on our wonderful largest mammal and rescue injured badgers.”

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The OBG have argued that badgers are “vital to the health of our countryside” and are “true ecosystem engineers”.

The group has claimed that badger setts, the underground home where badgers live, are empty in Oxfordshire for the first time.

The government has been strongly criticised by the group for raking up a taxpayers bill of £100 million and for not protecting the badger population.

The OBG is affiliated with the Badger Trust and their groups coordinator Sally Jones said it was “heart-breaking” to learn that badger setts which had survived for decades were starting to be left empty.

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Ms Jones said: “Local Badger Group volunteers give their time, energy and dedication to educate and inform the public about badgers.

“It’s heart-breaking that areas that contain badger setts they have surveyed for decades and badgers they have rescued and nursed back to health, are now beginning to lay empty.”

Badgers are amongst the most legally protected wild animals in the UK and are shielded under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.

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Previously speaking about the challenge of tackling bovine tuberculosis, the then Environment Secretary George Eustice said: “Bovine tuberculosis is one of the most difficult and intractable animal health challenges that the UK faces today, causing considerable trauma for farmers and costing taxpayers over £100 million every year.

“The badger cull has led to a significant reduction in the disease but no one wants to continue the cull of a protected species indefinitely.

“That is why we are now building on this progress by accelerating other elements of our strategy, including cattle vaccination and improved testing so that we can eradicate this insidious disease and start to phase out badger culling as soon as possible.”