A leading animal carer has said the Bath and Wells Diocese should "give up reading The Bible for a couple of days" to properly research cattle TB before calling for a South West badger cull.

Pauline Kidner, founder of the Secret World wildlife rescue centre in East Huntspill, said she was outraged that the diocese had called for a cull.

"The diocese would be better off sticking to what it knows best – religion – and not get involved in science," she said.

Mrs Kidner said that the church had the right to be concerned with the devastating effects TB had on farmers but should not enter debate without proper knowledge.

Her remarks come in response to church leaders, who said a badger cull was necessary to stop the virus ruining the farming industry in the South West.

The Anglican Church in Somerset has called for urgent talks to help solve the problem, and the Bath and Wells Diocese has made it clear it considers a cull an essential move – even though Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Hilary Benn has repeatedly refused to order a cull.

Tom Done, chairman of the Diocesan Rural Life Group, said: "No-one, including most farmers, wants to see a mass cull of all badgers.

"However, in the interest of cattle, badgers and farmers, it will be necessary to control the badger population so that we can have healthy setts and herds."

Last year 20,000 cattle were slaughtered on the region's farms, 2,816 new TB cases were reported – a 40 per cent increase on 2007 – and at the end of the year there were 4,000 herds under restrictions.

Farmers are compensated for animals compulsorily slaughtered but the Government has imposed lower payments to reduce the millions it spends on the disease each year.