Fears that badger cull will take place in Leicestershire

Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust says it is horrified at the possibility of the county being included in this year’s badger cull.

The trust is asking people to support their public campaign to stop the cull.

The cull is expected to be announced shortly and to begin across over 50 areas in England this autumn.

The trust said a list of the areas has revealed Leicestershire appears for the first time. The Wildlife Trusts oppose culling and believe the science used to justify the killing of thousands of badgers every year in the UK is flawed.

During the last five years, Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, in partnership with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, has been running a successful vaccination programme in two strategic areas of Leicestershire, and they claim that proves there is a more humane way to tackle bovine tuberculosis than culling. The trust is concerned that a cull will result in vaccinated badgers being shot and disrupt the ability of the programme to expand.

Bovine tuberculosis is a highly infectious disease of cattle which devastates thousands of farming businesses annually.