Guardian: Two pilot culls to kill up to 5,000 badgers in Gloucestershire and Somerset have begun.
The cull, which the Guardian revealed last week would start on Monday night and the National Farmers Union has confirmed is under way, is designed to test whether badgers can be killed in a safe, humane and effective way. Farmers and the government say the cull is necessary to combat bovine tuberculosis, which led to 37,000 cattle being slaughtered in 2012, at a cost of 100m in compensation from the taxpayer....