MELANIE Squires, of the NFU, paints the dairy industry as whiter-than-white when it comes to apportioning blame for the TB crisis in cattle (We want to get rid of TB, not badgers, letters, July 7).

Ms Squires says TB is spreading to new areas via badgers. Again, I ask exactly how are these highly territorial animals supposed to be doing this? Are crack teams of infected badgers parachuting in? No, of course not – it is a ridiculous notion.

The real reason, as I previously stated (Bizarre war faced by humble badger, letters, July 5), is mass cattle movements. This was identified as the most significant factor in the spread of bovine TB by a study by Oxford University – and with over 13 million movements a year and a cattle test for TB that is famously unreliable is it any surprise?

The bottom line is a 'cull' of badgers will not be the magic bullet that the NFU is making it out to be. Defra itself claims that the best that can be hoped for would be a 12-16 per cent drop in TB – and that would be after years of killing badgers across large swathes of the English countryside. The method of shooting free-running badgers has not even been tested, and Defra admits that unless strict criteria are met the results could be even more paltry – and might even make things worse.

However, one thing is unarguable: it will be an animal welfare disaster.

Even in areas of high TB incidences, only one in seven badgers is known to carry the disease, but a 'cull' would destroy six out of seven healthy badgers. The NFU says this isn't a war on wildlife, but it sure looks like one – and it is a war without justification.

Ms Squires also fails to explain why the NFU are not fighting to change EU legislation that prevents the sale of milk from cattle that have been vaccinated with as much passion as they are pursuing badgers. Surely this would make better use of their energies, rather than pushing for men to chase badgers around darkened woodland with guns?

Justin Kerswell

Viva! Wilder Street, Bristol