AROUND 100 people descended on Dunster on Tuesday night in a show of strength against Government plans to cull badgers in West Somerset to try and curb the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle.

The "peaceful outdoor meeting" was organised by Somerset-based wildlife charity Secret World and the Badger Protection League.

It gave opponents to the cull the chance to show their feelings and to highlight calls for a vaccination programme rather than a cull.

Secret World founder, Pauline Kidner, said she was "amazed" by the response to 'badger night' - which coincided with the announcement a debate would be held on the cull in the House of Commons next week.

The debate, which will be held next Thursday (October 25), was triggered after an online petition led by rock musician Brian May attracted almost 170,000 signatures.

Mrs Kidner said she hoped Government ministers would see sense after 30 animal disease experts separately wrote to a national newspaper to highlight their concerns that a cull would increase the spread of TB rather than reduce it.

The scientists called on the Government to halt plans for trial culls in both West Somerset and Gloucestershire, which are due to start any day now.

They said the cull areas were too small to provide any useful data but Government body Defra remained adamant the cull should go ahead.

The Government believes the incidence of bTB could be reduced by up to 16 per cent over nine years as a direct result of the cull, which also has the backing of the National Farmers' Union.

The union estimates bTB costs farmers and UK taxpayers more than £100 million each year, but opponents believe the cull should be ditched in favour of a vaccination scheme.

Mrs Kidner said: "We have every sympathy for farmers experiencing bovine TB breakdown in their cattle, but they are being led up the garden path.

"This is an experiment on killing badgers based on no science, with no safety buffers for humans or animals either near to or on public footpaths, with no clear numbers of badgers to be killed and no knowledge of the effects of the spread of bovine TB in cattle."

Government quango Natural England issued a licence for the West Somerset cull earlier this month.

The licence gives a specially formed company, representing farming and land management interests, permission to shoot free-running badgers in more than 70 per cent of the West Somerset pilot area.

The trial covers more than 250 square kilometres and critics claim it will results in the deaths of several thousand badgers.

Natural England said it was satisfied the company's licence application had met the strict criteria set out in the Government's bTB policy guidance.

The licence will be valid for four years and authorises "control operations" to be conducted within the West Somerset pilot area over a continuous six week period, each year, over the next four years.

The licence-holders will be authorised to reduce badger populations in the pilot area by at least 70 per cent, up to a maximum number to prevent "the risk of local extinction".