A former DEFRA adviser brands policy as "unacceptable"

The Humane Society International UK (HSI UK) has been backed in their campaign to stop DEFRA's badger culls this autumn.

Former head of wildlife diseases at the Central Science Laboratory, Chris Cheeseman, has issued a statement supporting HSI UK, claiming that the policy is "unacceptable".

Dr Cheeseman made his comments in an HSI UK video called "Kill the Cull, Not England's Badgers". The video also features comments from renowned names and organisation representatives alongside badger footage.

"This government claims that their policy is science-led but I'm afraid it's not," said Dr Cheeseman. "It could lead to the deaths of - using their figures - up to 130,000 badgers over a few years to achieve overall, at best, 16 percent reduction in cattle TB."

DEFRA have defended the science behind their policy, with a spokesperson saying that no country in the world where wildlife carries TB has eradicated the disease in cattle without tackling it in wildlife too.

"The science is clear," they added. "The latest results from the Randomised Badger Culling Trial have shown that, carried out over a sufficient area and for long enough, culling can reduce the spread of disease to cattle, with benefits remaining for years after the end of the culling period."

Though there have been a number of delays, including numerous legal challenges, the badger culls are set to begin any time now. They are planned to take place in West Gloucester and West Somerset - nearby where Dr Cheeseman has carried out extensive research on badgers.