A total of 32,601 of the creatures were killed last year in 32 areas across in Dorset, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Cheshire, Somerset, Wiltshire, Staffordshire and Cumbria, as part of the Government-backed programme.

Natural England, which advises the Government on the environment, revealed 14 “expressions of interest” had been received.

Badger Trust chief executive Dominic Dyer, who unearthed the figures using freedom of information laws, said the programme was “the largest destruction of a protected species in living memory”.

He urged Environment Secretary Michael Gove to reject the plan.