Regarding Trevor Bevin's article in the Dorset Echo (June 6) about badgers 'invading' Wyke Regis Cemetery, I would like to state the following. First of all, I will say I am not familiar with the cemetery in question but it is not unusual for badgers to occupy such areas as generally they are quiet, relatively undisturbed areas. If as the article states, up to fifty tunnels have been identified, then this is not just recent work on behalf of the badgers as a sett of that size would have taken several generations of badgers to build.

The article speaks for itself in so much as it is thought the badgers came from the nearby Curtis Fields area which is being developed for a large housing development. I assume this area was surveyed for signs of badgers as part of the requirements needed before permission is granted to proceed with any building work? We, as a human species, cannot continue to keep building on our green open countryside to accommodate our ever growing population. As well as badgers and other forms of our fauna needing somewhere to live, they also need space to forage for food. The diet of badgers consists of mainly worms and other invertebrates and small vertebrates, these are mainly found in such areas as meadows and areas of short grass, the sort developers love to build on.

Tara Williams warns in the article 'This is something we could be dealing with for a long time'. Talk of moving the badgers, costing thousands of pounds or even building a new sett is suggested! As being involved with badgers for many decades, I can say now that artificial setts very rarely work and you cannot, I repeat, cannot move badgers to another territory occupied by another clan of badgers. Weymouth Town Council will be wasting vast amounts of money if it goes ahead with this scheme, as well as playing with the lives of these iconic mammals. Live and let live and leave well enough alone, they are causing no harm.

Colin Fountain,

Moreton