Badger cull to be extended into Wiltshire

The Government has announced that the culling of badgers to control the spread of TB in cattle is to be extended into 11 new areas of England, including Wiltshire.

Licences for badger culling across parts of Devon, Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset and Cheshire have been granted. The Government says it is also restarting a badger vaccination programme to stop the spread of the disease to new areas.

In addition, licences for more culling have been granted for areas of Gloucestershire and Somerset which have completed four-year pilot culls introduced to stop the spread of TB from badgers to cattle.

A phone and email advisory service is to start in autumn. It will give advice to farmers and livestock owners areas at high risk or on the edge of the areas suffering the disease.

The Government has committed to rolling out culling to more areas, saying it is necessary to curb TB in cattle as badgers can transmit the disease to livestock.

Opponents say the practice is inhumane. Malcolm Clark from the Wiltshire Badger Group say it is not only cruel but ineffective. He believes modern farming methods rather than badgers are to blame for the spread of tuberculosis.

Mr Clark says he remembers the badger culling trials, which he describes as terrible. He says this will be much worse - all the more so because he believes the cull is pointless.