A CAMPAIGN group which has been fighting to put a stop to badger culls in the county has spoken of its dismay following today's announcement they will continue for a third year.

Gloucestershire Against Badger Shooting has condemned the government announcement which states the culling will continue in Somerset and be extended to Dorset for the first time.

Jeanne Berry of the campaign group said: “This announcement today that the cull is to go ahead is just the latest stage of this ongoing government farce which is both inhumane and ineffective and will not help stop the spread of bovine TB.

"The government has now decided that it only needs to kill a minimum of 265 badgers in Gloucestershire despite this being less than the figure killed last year, which was deemed an utter failure. This new cull is a desperate measure of a discredited policy which the government is only prepared to announce at the start of the bank holiday in order to bury bad news. They have set this new low figure in order try and ensure a successful cull but this is now a long way away from the science which the government insists is behind the cull. "Our many supporters will be out as soon as the cull starts in order to look for wounded badgers and we would ask wildlife lovers to join and help us over the next few weeks. Once the cull is over we will be re-doubling our efforts to get parliament to look at the huge waste of public money that this pointless policy has brought about."