WITH regard to recent publicity about a proposed badger cull in relation to the issue of tuberculosis in cattle, I wish to say that a “cull” of badgers already exists.
It is snaring which has been carried out for many years, mostly by gamekeepers on shooting estates.
One source states that 30,000 foxes are killed in snares every year, and I have found more badgers caught in snares than foxes.
The RSPCA leaflet on snaring shows one dead cat caught in a snare, one dead deer, a live fox and four dead badgers.
A Forestry Commission publication refers to Government research carried out in the Sixties on post-mortems on animals caught in free-running snares and non-target animals caught in snares.
I believe tuberculosis in cattle to be a problem only in the southwest of this country.
I am all too aware of the needless use of snares to kill wildlife and the appalling suffering it causes.
Snaring and all wildlife persecution should be banned no matter what form it takes.
John Gill, Castleside.
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