BADGER culling was introduced in 2012. Since then, 68,000 innocent badgers have been culled. Culling has no effect on controlling TB in cattle, where the root cause of TB lies.

Badgers are often blamed for spreading the disease, which yes, they do, but, it is cattle that spawns TB and infected wildlife. Most badgers die in immense pain because of the culling process.

The cause of this blame lies with intensified, unnatural farming practices, and political ignorance and incompetence.

The only reason to zero graze or intensely farm is to lower production costs and increase product yield and therefore higher profits.

Government subsidises our farmers every year to the tune of £68 million of our money.

The poor cow is nothing but a mere unit of production. She was being forced to produce around 20 litres every single day in 2010, an increase of around 65 per cent since 1980. That is many, many times more than the natural amount she was created for in order to feed her calf. The calf is soon wrenched from her (within 48 hours) leaving them both drowned in grief. Inhumane yes, but the beat goes on!

A depressing number of cows are also culled after only two or three lactations because they are worn out and diseased with TB because they have no immune system left.

Bovine TB is a highly contagious disease, first caused in cattle for precisely the above reasons. It is rarely fatal in cattle, but it leads to reduced milk yield, making it a particular concern for dairy farmers looking for maximum profits.

Yes, badgers are commonly blamed for spreading the disease, but they are not the source culprits. It should be easy to see where the finger of blame for the TB crisis points, and it is not at the poor badgers or the poor suffering cows.

D. YEOMAN (Mrs), Hilltop Road, Ferndown