THE third phase in a four-year trial cull of badgers in the Gloucestershire area could start at any time as part of DEFRA's programme to control the spread of bovine TB.

This is despite evidence brought forward from a Gloucestershire badger group that the cull was 'inhumane and ineffective'.

The cull area is in the west of the county and the National Farmers Union says seventy per cent of landowners, the minimum number required, have signed up to allow marksmen onto the land where the badgers will be culled by shooting and caging. The second cull began in early September last year, lasting six weeks.

Alex Stevens, regional policy manager with the Gloucestershire branch of the National Farmers Union, said the organisation was very much in favour of the trial in order to try and eradicate the disease.

"It is going to take a lot of effort to halt the spread of TB but there is evidence from DEFRA that the trials have been working. In the areas of Somerset and Gloucestershire where the trials have been taking place there have been fewer cattle testing positive for TB. When the final results of the trials are analysed following next year's final cull we hope the programme can be rolled out across the rest of the country," he said.

Mr Stevens explained that calls for vaccination to be used to control the disease was not currently an option.

"Cattle are not vaccinated against the disease because there is no licensed vaccine available at the moment as vaccinated cattle would show up in routine tests as being infected. Also, vaccinated cattle are not allowed to enter the food chain.

"Vaccinating badgers brings its own problems and massive expense because you are dealing with wild animals that would have to be caught and tested. A vaccine would not work on a badger that already had TB," he added.

The Government states that it is investing in a major research programme to develop vaccines and that vaccinating both cattle and badgers could be an important part of the way TB is controlled in the future.

The culls take place between June 1 and the end of the year though the company co-ordinating the cull, Gloscon, requires a letter of authorisation from Natural England before work can start. A spokesman for Natural England said no letter had yet been issued.

Gloucestershire county councillor Paul Hodgkinson said the cull was a hugely expensive exercise with conflicting evidence as to whether it really has reduced TB.

"The cost of killing each badger was over £1,000 - a ludicrous figure when services are being cut elsewhere. Is it really necessary? No."

Jeanne Berry, spokeswoman for Gloucestershire Against Badger Shooting - a peaceful patrolling group - said she was 'shocked' that DEFRA was continuing with the programme despite evidence that it was not working.

"Even the Independent Expert Panel set up by the Government said it was inhumane and ineffective and the British Veterinary Association has said the same," said Mrs Berry.

"The BVA supported the pilots to test the use of controlled shooting but data from the first two years of culling has not demonstrated conclusively that controlled shooting can be carried out effectively and humanely based on the criteria that was set.

“It has taken two years for the BVA to recognise that the free shooting of badgers is inhumane despite the government’s own Independent Expert Panel confirming this in 2013. This blows the whole Gloucestershire pilot cull out of the water."