A cull of Britain’s badgers, based on the claim by farmers that it will halt the spread of TB in cattle, is being piloted in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset, with farmers given licence to shoot them by the government’s Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.(DEFRA) If the cull does stop the spread of TB then it will be extended to other areas of the UK.

Opposing the cull the RSPCA is urging consumers to boycott milk from west Somerset and Gloucestershire farmers and to avoid visiting and thereby commercially supporting the areas.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) claims that unless it’s members were allowed to kill badgers the price of milk would go up, the same argument as used by the farming fraternity to defend factory farming.