Princess Anne says badgers should be gassed, as cull abandoned

Princess Anne has said that the practice of gassing badgers should be revived as a way to prevent the spread of bovine tuberculosis to cattle.

Gassing badgers was outlawed in 1982, but in a frank interview with the BBC’s Countryfile, the Princess Royal described gassing as the “most humane way” of keeping badger numbers down.

However, Professor Rosie Woodroffe, from the Zoological Society of London dismissed the royal’s advice on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, and called on her to review the evidence from gassing badgers in the 1960s and 70s, where the programme was found to be ineffective.

Princess Anne’s words come a day after Environment Secretary Owen Paterson announced plans to end the badger cull across England for being “inhumane” and ineffective at containing the spread of bovine tuberculosis.