BADGER baiters, hare coursers and poachers are using foot-and-mouth restrictions to step up their activities in parts of the region, The Northern Echo can reveal.

Farmers are reporting a marked increase in the number of people trespassing on their land since the start of the epidemic.

It is believed that those involved in badger baiting, hare coursing and poaching are willing to take more risks, because they know that the restrictions make it harder for police and the RSPCA to catch them in the act.

But there are also concerns that these people could be responsible for the spread of foot-and-mouth.

A gamekeeper who patrols farms on the outskirts of Darlington has said he is being called every day to reports of trespassers.

The man, who does not wish to be named for fear of reprisals, said he had seen evidence of such illegal and cruel activities as badger baiting and hare coursing.

"A lot of them are local people who see this as some kind of sport," he said.

"It is difficult to catch them in the act, but both myself and the farmers themselves have been threatened with weapons when we have tried to tackle them.

"The foot-and-mouth restrictions mean the footpaths should be out of bounds, but I believe it is giving them more courage, because they know the police have to go through disinfectant procedures before they can come on to the land.

"They are also showing a total lack of responsibility by walking on land during the foot-and-mouth crisis."

Lindsay Waddell, chairman of the Moorland branch of the National Gamekeepers' Organisation, has echoed the concerns.

"It has been noted that, in some parts of the North-East, there has been an increase in this sort of activity," said Mr Waddell.

"Rather than being an inconvenience, foot-and-mouth is helping them because there are less people on the land to see them."

PC Stephen Rich, wildlife liaison officer for Darlington, said: "There are people regularly trespassing on farmland and this is aggravated by the crisis, which they seem to be ignorant of."

Mike Hobday, spokesman for the League Against Cruel Sports, said: "There is a sense that hare coursing and badger baiting is on the increase, and that the people involved will take advantage of any opportunity they have.