Badgers are protected by law in this country because they are still being cruelly persecuted by badger baiters and badger diggers. In the despicable 'sport' of badger baiting a number of dogs are fought against a badger that has been dug out of its sett. The badger suffers a slow, painful death and the dogs are usually injured too.

Badger baiting was made illegal in 1835 a long before the EU was formed. After studying badgers all over the world, Charles Long and Carl Killingley concluded, "Other countries do not appear to have such a long standing record of relentless persecution, involving cruelty in various forms, as does Great Britain".

Pam Mynott, Leicester,

I have spent years wondering what a badger is for? They seem remarkably pointless animals. Can anyone enlighten me?

Lux Aeterna, MANCHESTER,

So you think it's right to go around bopping creatures in the wild on the basis of dodgy assertions by the likes of the NFU?
The badgers were there long before Tescos and its tame farming lobby.

Even if badgers are responsible or play a part in spreading m. bovis, it is a long way from being an open and shut case. The incidence of m.bovis in the wild is also high in ferrets, and deer. Are we going to clear massive exclusion zones of all wildlife just so that farmers can continue to raise cattle in cramped and unhygienic conditions and then slaughter them, too?

And once you have cleared the area, what's to stop badgers coming back. Or displaced badgers roaming wider afield and increasing the likeliehood of m. bovis elsewhere.

Instead of spending millions on killing things, spend it on a vaccine and spend it on making farming more humane.

Boycott Welsh tourism until the welsh assembly sees sense and abandons this ill thought out plan.

Steve Rudd, Huddersfield , West Riding of Yorkshire

Badger hair makes great shaving brushes.

Crag, Val d'isere, France

'The greater the number of laws preventing a beast from harm, the more nastily and bloody-mindedly it will behave.' I've always found it ironic that despite the fact that humans kill up to 70 million sharks every year (the population of Britain), whenever there is a shark attack on a human the law allows us to cull the 'nasty, bloody-minded' things.

Swans can be aggressive at times, so it's outrageous that I am not allowed to legally slaughter them!

Andy, London,

In fact, the man in the supermarket was quite aggressive to me this morning, maybe I should kill and eat him. Human numbers have doubled in the last century anyway so it's not like they're endangered!

Andy, London,

Badgers are certainly not untouchable and using them as an excuse for poor farming practise is a sad indictment of our current age.

Adam Morrigan, horsely, glos

Ross Clark doesn't say why badgers are a "pest". Most of us don't see them that way as we never see one at all, in contrast to the squirrels and rabbits they are compared to.

Austin, London,

Road Kill ( Brother Sister )
Bark Tan Fox and Badger, Copper, Stainless Steel, Aluminum, Elm

The relationship we have with the our environment is increasingly confined to weights and measures.

Art and the zeitgeist

Adam Morrigan, horsely, glos

I take the point regarding the Swan. The banks of the River Thames which provide one of the few attratcive walks here in Reading, Berkshire, are apparantly also an area set aside as some sort of Swan sanctuary. The result is that there are loads of them. They are large, messy, potentially agressive birds which are fine when encountered in groups of 2 or 3 but trying to walk through a cluster of 20 of them will test the nerve. Particularly when you know the law is all on their side should any fisticuffs result.

Bob, Reading,