A CHARITY boss has launched a campaign to block bids to shoot badgers.

Peter Smith, chief executive of Wildwood Trust, based at Herne Common, was prompted to act after a Government decision to allow landowners to kill the animals to prevent the spread of bovine tuberculosis.

He said badgers was being unfairly blamed, adding: "The badger debate has been around for a very long time, over 40 years, but behind the simplistic headlines that badger lovers and farmers are at loggerheads is a much more complex and subtle story, a story full of intrigue and vested interests competing for economic advantage.

"A whole generation of farmers and 'country people' have grown up being told badgers are the main problem, but have forgotten the basic epidemiological science of bovine tuberculosis (bTB). The farming lobby have found it much easier to blame badgers than address the fundamental problems of cattle farming."

He said the disease increased after restrictions on cattle movement were relaxed in the 1970s and farming practices changed. Although badgers can be infected by cows, Mr Smith said there was no evidence to prove badgers could infect cows.

He suggested that instead of a cull, farms should have insurance, quarantine should be stricter, there should be more research and changes to taxation to reward less intensive farming.