A more widespread Badger Cull alongside other wild animals should take place to control their numbers, according to a Conservative MP.
Richard Drax, MP for South Dorset, has dismissed calls by conservation groups to end the badger cull, which aims to curb bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cows.
Speaking at a debate on farming in the House of Commons, he instead suggested more animals, such as deer and foxes, should also be culled as they have no natural predators in the UK.
The government refused to comment.
The badger cull started in Gloucestershire in 2013 and spread to Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Dorset.
More than 210,000 badgers have been culled so far, the Badger Trust said.
Cattle spread the respiratory infection to each other, but they can also catch it from badgers – so they are killed as well.
