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The popular portrayal of the badger as a stern but shy mainstay of British wildlife was revised dramatically yesterday by orders for the first cull of the animal in a quarter of a century.

The threat posed to cattle by bovine tuberculosis – which can be transmitted by badgers – prompted the announcement of a culling zone to stem the spread of the potentially lethal disease. The decision to set up the zone, which will be in an area of Wales, was described yesterday as a milestone by officials.

Farmers’ leaders in England, where bovine TB is most common, said that they hoped that Hilary Benn, the Rural Affairs Secretary, will adopt the same policy. Mr Benn’s decision is expected before the summer.

Animal welfare campaigners accused Welsh officials last night of wrongly victimising badgers and said that the illness was brought on by modern, intensive farming. They said that on no account should the cull be extended to England.

Last year the Independent Scientific Group, which supervised trials to determine a link between badgers and the spread of bovine TB to cattle, said that “badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to cattle TB control in Britain”.

Critics argue that culling trials have shown that the approach simply prompts badgers to move to new areas, spreading the disease. The RSPCA also condemned the decision and said it flew in the face of sound scientific judgment. Rob Atkinson, its head of wildlife science, said: “We are not a bunch of badger-huggers. Our opposition to a badger cull is based on solid science, not sentiment.”

But Christianne Glossop, Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales, who announced the decision with Elin Jones, Welsh Rural Affairs Minister, said that “doing nothing was not an option. We know there’s a link between infection in cattle and infection in badgers. It’s true in Great Britain and it’s true in Ireland,” she said. “The aim is healthy cattle, healthy badgers and healthy people.”

Dr Glossop said that one of the main areas of Wales affected by bovine TB was in Monmouthshire and Powys, on the border with England.

The precise location of the cull in Wales is not known but a likely area is the bovine TB hotspot that straddles the borders of Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire.

The method and the perpetrators are also yet to be agreed. The main options are gassing, shooting or trapping by farmers, animal health officials, contractors or vets, or a combination of all. The culling initiative, which is expected to last at least four years, is intended to remove diseased, not healthy, badgers.

Dr Glossop said that the disease was out of control and the current policy was not working. The cost to the taxpayer of compensating Welsh farmers for the loss of infected cattle had risen from £1.3 million in 1999-2000 to more than £15 million from 2007 to the end of March this year. By 2012 the cost would be £30 million if the disease continued to increase at this rate.

In England an average of 5,000 farms are being infected each year with the slaughter of some 20,000 cattle at a cost to the taxpayer of almost £100 million. Last year 21,000 cattle tested positive for bovine TB on 9,000 farms. Ten years ago there were 3,000 cases on 1,500 farms.

The trial cull will also be accompanied by a one-off disease test for every cow in Wales, to establish the precise spread of the disease and a review of compensation payments to farmers.

Ms Jones, in a statement to the National Assembly, said: “This is a difficult decision to take and it has not been taken lightly. I am very aware of the strong views on this issue.”

There has been limited badger culling in the past, and gassing was common in the 1970s before the 1982 badger protection laws.

These were introduced when badger numbers were below 250,000 but the badger population today is flourishing.

High price of disease

— Farmers and the Welsh Assembly say that bovine TB is spreading through Welsh herds, but conservationists say that killing badgers will do nothing to stop it

— Last year 7,905 cattle were slaughtered to control the disease in Wales. In 1997 it was 669

— The compensation bill was £15.2 million last year, up from £1.8 million in 2000-01

— Last June the Government’s Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB found that a cull of wild animals would “make no meaningful contribution” to controlling the disease in cows

— Under current policy, animals are slaughtered if they test positive. Farmers are compensated for slaughtered animals

— Sixteen per cent of farms in Wales were under bovine TB movement restrictions last December

— Parts of Pembrokeshire and Monmouthshire have some of the highest levels of the disease in Britain

— The Welsh Assembly had to overcome a legal challenge last year to slaughter Shambo the temple bullock. Police were called to remove Hindu worshippers so that animal health officials could take Shambo from the Skanda Vale religious community in Carmarthenshire

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