THIS IS GLOUCESTERSHIRE
6 Septmber 2013
“GENOCIDE in the countryside” has to stop now, is Queen guitarist Brian May’s cry to stop the badger cull.
As he and protesters prepare to take to the fields around north west Gloucestershire tonight in anticipation of more badger culling, the figure head for the anti-cull movement said opposition is growing by the day.
Brian May: “This is genocide in the countryside,” he said at The George Inn in Newent this afternoon. It is horrendous. There are 300,000 people who have signed our petition now and it’s going up by the day. More people are realising that the cull is a waste of time. There is no point to it – it won’t eradicate bovine tuberculosis.”
Across Gloucestershire and Somerset, 5,000 badgers are to be shot in six weeks as part of DEFRA-approved measures aimed to protect cattle from bovine TB.
Some farmers say something has to be done to protect their livelihoods and thousands of cattle from TB, which means they must be slaughtered.
Protesters from the Save Me campaign will take their message to the culling zone tonight.
*Four people were arrested and then de-arrested once they had given officers “the necessary information” last night, Gloucestershire Constabulary confirmed today. A further 4 people were stopped in a lane with vehicles parked on both sides. The lane was temporarily obstructed by vehicles, including police cars.