§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the badger population of England and Wales. [58592]
§ Mr. RookerThe Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has made no direct estimates of the badger population of England and Wales. A report to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (1995) based on surveys carried out in 1988 for the Nature Conservancy Council suggested pre-breeding badger population sizes of 195,000 in England and 35,000 in Wales. A report by the People's Trust for Endangered Species (1997) suggest that badger activity in Britain increased by 77 per cent. between 1988 and 1997. I understand those responsible for producing these figures are reviewing them, although no revisions have been published yet.