JUSTIN Kerswell demonstrates his ignorance of social behaviour patterns of badgers in the wild in his letter (Territorial badgers not spreading TB, letters, July 13). He states that Melanie Squires' assertion that "TB is spreading to new areas via badgers..." is wrong and asks how they are supposed to be doing this? Well, anybody who has ever had an association with the countryside will understand that badgers are extremely social animals and live in social groups.

However, when these groups get too large for social order and for the health of the sett, the new younger ones leave to "spread to new areas" to form new social groups and the process is repeated again and again.

Cattle, on the other hand, are always managed in herds on the same farms. I therefore think it is pretty obvious which group has the greatest chance of spreading TB.

Anybody who has ever worked in the countryside either for wildlife organisations or as farmers (and I have done both) will understand that the countryside requires balance to operate and the moment you alter that balance in favour of one species or another you risk upsetting this delicate balance.

In my working career I have yet to meet a single farmer who doesn't like or appreciate wildlife, and if they could achieve it, they would welcome healthy badgers on their farms, but they do run businesses producing food.

Consumers should know that unless we do something about this problem soon, we will run out of time and options for farmers to respond to the real challenges of producing wholesome food from this fantastic region of ours. We are entering a very dangerous and delicate phase in world food production and this region has a massive role to play in that.

Let's back a trial involving a cull of badgers in a large enough area of the Westcountry to be effective and let's keep an open mind on the results.

We need to get on with the job of producing good quality food and looking after our countryside and stop bashing those who do just that.

John Sheaves

Ottery St Mary