CAMPAIGNERS against badger culling held a demonstration outside the Three Counties Showground in Malvern last week.
The protest took place at the start of the Royal Three Counties Show on Friday outside the main gates on Hanley Road.
Members from Worcestershire Vegans and Veggies led the protest on the morning of the three-day event.
The protesters carried placards and banners and several of them wore badger costumes as they distributed leaflets urging showgoers to oppose the cull and go vegan.
Ronald Lee, communications officer for Worcestershire Vegans and Veggies, said: “We wanted to urge the Government and the National Farmers Union (NFU) to stop the culling of badgers and to educate people about a humane diet that did not involve the suffering and slaughter of farmed animals.
“The demonstrators gave out hundreds of leaflets to people going into the show and were very pleased at the considerable support they received from members of the public, including many toots of agreement from passing motorists.
“Hundreds of badgers have already been shot in Gloucestershire, Somerset and Dorset in the last three years, and now it is intended to extend the cull to Herefordshire and other areas.
“It has been revealed that a large number of the badgers already shot did not die immediately and underwent considerable suffering.
“The Government states that the reason for the badger cull is to prevent the spread of TB in cattle, but there is a very large amount of evidence that it will not be effective in doing this and could well make the problem worse”
NFU spokesman Oliver Cartwright, said: “Bovine tuberculosis is out of control and is one of the largest threats currently facing beef and dairy farmers in Worcestershire.
“Wildlife controls are legal, licensed activities as part of Government policy being carried out by trained professionals to ensure they are safe, effective and humane.
“They will help achieve what everybody wants; a TB free England, with healthy badgers living alongside healthy cattle in a healthy countryside.
“Bovine TB has a devastating impact on farming families and their businesses, on cattle forced into testing regimes every 60 days, and on badgers that carry the disease.
“At the moment the disease is endemic in Worcestershire and every possible measure is needed to tackle it and to stop it spreading further; this includes strict testing and movement controls, biosecurity and management of the disease in wildlife.”
