Star comment: Badger cull call is right tactic for farmers
There is a huge difference of opinion regarding the state of our countryside between those who live in towns and those who live in rural areas.
People from urban areas are more likely to oppose fox-hunting and the culling of badgers while those who live in the countryside are more likely to approve.
While that is a broad generalisation, there is a reason for the difference. People who live in rural areas view the countryside as a place of work, rather than recreation, and they know how damaging it can be when livestock are lost or land is damaged.
Badgers are viewed by some as the lovable face of the countryside. Others, however, see them as a menace. They are blamed for carrying bovine TB, a disease that can cause devastating losses for farmers.
The Government wants to eradicate the airborne respiratory disease in the next 25 years and culling is viewed as being an essential part of that strategy.
Shropshire MP Owen Paterson, the former Environment Secretary, is in favour of a cull. He wants Shropshire and Mid Wales to adopt the same uncompromising tactics that have been introduced in other parts of the UK, where badgers are shot by marksmen.
The culling of badgers is a hugely complicated issue and one that does not command widespread approval. While badgers will be shot and killed in five new areas of England to control bovine TB, there is opposition from some quarters to that.
Both sides of the debate must be heard. Those in the countryside will point to the escalating cost of the disease, which is expected to cause losses of £1 billion in the next 10 years.
However, animal welfare supporters believe culling is not effective and they say the link between bovine TB and badgers is tenuous. Certainly, more research is required to demonstrate how the disease is transmitted and whether there are alternatives to shooting the nocturnal creatures.
We must be careful to find the right balance between preserving the countryside as a habitat of wonderment and ensuring that those who live there can earn a living. The present situation is undesirable. It will take some years before research provides conclusive evidence that badgers are at fault. Farmers will say they cannot wait. They want action now and Mr Paterson's call is likely to be popular with them.
