I WAS appalled to learn that the Government has sanctioned trial badger culling in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, in which high velocity guns will be used to shoot free running badgers at night.

This is a potentially dangerous strategy that raises important questions regarding public safety within the culling zones and regarding animal welfare because badgers, or even accidental animals victims, may not be killed outright but may be injured and left to die slowly and painfully.

Furthermore, there is no scientific justification for slaughtering thousands of badgers in yet another misguided and futile attempt to reduce cattle TB.

In fact, after a 10-year investigation that cost millions of pounds and the lives of thousands of badgers, the Independent Scientific Group concluded that: “Badger culling cannot meaningfully contribute to the control of cattle TB.”

For far too many years the badger has been made the scapegoat and paid a heavy price for what is essentially a cattle problem requiring a cattle-based solution, such as improving bio-security and animal husbandry.

P HANDY Malvern