Thousands more badgers face being slaughtered as the Government is poised to widen its cull to 10 more areas.
Oxfordshire, Shropshire and Derbyshire could be included in the scheme for the first time as farmers bid to rid the countryside of TB in cattle.
And new killing zones are set to be created in counties which already have licences to cull Brock.
Campaigners used freedom of information rules to uncover the latest list of areas being considered for licences to shoot the creatures.
Natural England grants licences on behalf of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The application process is one of the first big decisions facing new Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers.
Badger Trust chief executive Dominic Dyer said: “Within weeks of Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying outside Downing Street that animal welfare would be a key priority for his Government, Defra Secretary Theresa Villiers is about to sign off on the largest destruction of a protected species in living memory.
“We could kill every badger in England and still have TB in cattle as a result of poor TB testing, cattle movement and biosecurity controls.”
Mr Dyer discussed the cull with the Prime Minister’s girlfriend Carrie Symonds last week.
Ms Symonds is an animal rights’ activist and environmental campaigner - and cull critics believe she may help influence a switch in Government policy.
Some 67,154 badgers have been killed in the mass culling scheme since 2013, mainly through shooting.
A total of 32,601 of the creatures were killed last year in 32 areas across Dorset, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Cheshire, Somerset, Wiltshire, Staffordshire and Cumbria, as part of the Government-backed programme.
Ten new licences could be granted when an announcement is made, expected within weeks.
Critics say the culling system is cruel and question the science behind the programme.
But supporters believe it is an effective way of helping tackle bovine TB in herds.
Last November, a Government-backed review into the cull called on farmers to toughen up controls to prevent TB spreading in their cattle.
A 138-page study into the killing programme said farmers should shoulder extra costs to protect their cows.
They also pointed to figures showing that more than 33,000 cattle had to be slaughtered in 2017 England to control the disease, “causing devastation and distress for farmers and rural communities”.
