The badger cull death toll has passed 200,000, latest figures reveal - with wildlife campaigners warning of “empty setts” across the country.
A report by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs quietly slipped out while Parliament is in recess revealed 33,627 of the creatures were slaughtered last year.
Added to the 174,517 killed since 2013 under efforts to curb the spread of tuberculosis in cattle, it takes the total number of badgers culled in the decade-long programme to 208,144.
