§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the numbers and costs of badgers killed in official programmes each year since 1970. [46757]
§ Mr. RookerOfficial badger removal operations did not start until 1975. The number of badgers removed and sent for post-mortem each full year since 1975 is as follows:
Year Number of badgers 1975 100 1976 203 1977 183 1978 208 1979 357 1980 346 1981 200 1982 691 1983 995 1984 1,265 1985 1,120 1986 785 1987 733 1988 778 1989 727 1990 810 1991 990 1992 1,054 1993 1,094 1994 1,683 1995 1,509 1996 1,911 1997 2,447 The Department does not have annual figures for the cost of removing badgers. However, the overall cost of the Department's Wildlife Unit, whose principal role was to visit farms in England and parts of Wales, and survey, trap, kill and submit for post-mortem inspection badgers taken in official programmes, was £1.67 million in 1997. Ignoring the cost of minor duties, such as collecting other dead badgers for post-mortem examination, this is equivalent to almost £700 per badger taken.