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Campaigners take badger fight to No10

THIS IS SOMERSET
29 March 2011
Campaigners against culling badgers yesterday handed a 17,000 signature petition to the Prime Minister. They are stepping up their protests ahead of a decision by the Government over whether to go ahead with a cull, in a bid to tackle bovine TB.

As the Daily Press reported earlier this month, the Welsh Assembly Government agreed to press ahead with a cull.

The petition was organised by the Badger Protection League.

Spokeswoman Pauline Kidner, from Secret World Wildlife Rescue, East Huntspill, Somerset, said: "Both governments should not underestimate the power of feeling against this ill-conceived plan. It will be another misjudgement where they will be stunned by the response from people all over the country."

Bristol East MP Kerry McCarthy, who was also present at Downing Street yesterday, hoped the number of signatures on the petition would make a difference.

She said: "This is an issue I have raised with the coalition Government time and again. However they don't seem to be listening, either to MPs, from all sides or the thousands of people who don't want this senseless slaughter to occur."

Vet Mark Jones, director of Care for the Wild International, said: "The secret to controlling TB in cattle lies in stringent testing and restrictions on cattle movements, and the introduction of vaccines, which are currently being tested, for both cattle and badgers."

A series of celebrities back the campaign, including Sir David Attenborough, Queen guitarist Brian May and Gloucestershire author Jilly Cooper.

Another supporter is actor Anthony Head, who lives near Bath and stars in Merlin and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He visited Secret World at the weekend, where he cuddled some badger cubs, and sympathised with farmers struggling to control the spread of bovine TB.

"For me, badgers represent everything that I love about the English countryside and I am saddened and appalled that the slaughter of thousands of badgers is planned."

The RSPCA and the Badger Trust also oppose any cull, but the Farmers' Union of Wales and the British Veterinary Association both support it, with latter saying it should progress without delay.

Welsh rural affairs minister Elin Jones has not set a date for the start of the cull, which will be carried out in an "intensive action area" including parts of Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire.

The decision by the Welsh Assembly has massive implications for West farmers, including those just over the border who are among the hardest hit by bovine TB.

Bovine TB is especially prevalent across the West, costing taxpayers tens of millions of pounds a year.

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