WEST Somerset's highly controversial badger cull could be extended for another three weeks after marksmen failed to kill enough animals.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson confirmed that 850 badgers had been shot in the district, just over 40 per cent of the original target of 2,081.

But he maintained the cull had still been a success, even though Natural England was considering applications to extend the culls in both West Somerset and Gloucestershire.

The original aim had been to kill 70 per cent of badgers in the cull zones - around 5,000 badgers in total.

But Mr Paterson told the House of Commons on Wednesday the killing targets has been based on population estimates from 2012 which had since been found to be "highly inaccurate".

He said the West Somerset badger population had originally been estimated at 2,400, but was now being revised downwards to 1,450.

That meant shooters would have to kill 1,015 badgers in West Somerset rather than 2,081 to achieve a 70 per cent reduction in numbers.

And based on the new figures, the current kill-rate amounted to a 59 per cent reduction in the overall population.

"The chief veterinary officer has advised that the 60 per cent reduction this year will deliver clear disease benefits as part of a four-year cull," he told the House in a written statement.

In the weeks before the cull started, badger numbers were surveyed in the area using 'hair traps' - pieces of barbed wire strung across two points to collect hair samples as the animals passed beneath the wire.

Mr Paterson was adamant the evidence from the traps had proved the badger population was much lower than originally thought and blamed the impact of last winter's bad weather, disease and lack of food for the apparent downturn in numbers.

Anti-cull campaigners, however, said the figures had deliberately been skewed downwards by activists who had sabotaged large numbers of traps by removing hair samples.

But using the new population figures, the company licensed to shoot badgers in the district is hoping a two to three week extension will allow it to hit the 70 per cent target set at the start of the trial.

Shadow Environment Secretary Maria Eagle said it was clear the cull had not worked, was not effective and not based on any scientific evidence.

Any extension of the culling period could, in fact, increase the spread of TB as badgers were disturbed by the shooting, she said.

Meanwhile, the Hunt Saboteurs Association has vowed to keep up the pressure in the cull zones by focusing on West Somerset's shooting estates.

In a statement, the association said it believed the shooting industry was "inextricably" linked to the cull and claimed the district's big shooting estates - Orchard Wyndham, Coombe Sydenham and Chargot - had all been focal points for culling activities.

Spokesman Lee Moon said: "Hunt sabs . . . will ensure that not a single pheasant shoot takes place as long as the cull continues.

"The cull has failed on its own methodology as well as the weight of public opposition and it is time the Government and the NFU gracefully accepted defeat and looked at more humane alternatives."

The Government approved the cull as a way of testing the effectiveness and humaneness of shooting badgers as a means of controlling bovine TB in cattle.

Animal charity the RSPCA, which has opposed the cull from the outset, said it was time for MPs to have a full debate - and vote - on the future of the cull.

RSPCA chief executive Gavin Grant said: "The RSPCA cares about cattle and badgers alike. This cull is not the answer for either of them.

"The public has made it clear they are hugely concerned about this cull and they deserve to be told what is going on."

Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers' Union, said it was vital the cull was extended for "a few more weeks".

"Last year, 38,000 cattle were killed and we've got to do something about the spread of this ghastly disease," he said.