A NATIONALLY-recognised animal carer says the Welsh Assembly will be murderers if it culls badgers to stop bovine tuberculosis in Wales.

Pauline Kidner, founder of East Huntspill's Secret World – an authority on rehabilitating and implementing voluntary TB testing for badgers – sees the animal as the assembly's scapegoat.

Mrs Kidner, who had an outbreak in a dairy herd she owned, says the assembly is not listening to the £50 million Government funded research carried out by the Independent Scientific Group.

After a 10-year culling trial, its Random Badger Control Trials (RBCT) concluded that reactive badger culling in TB-hit areas worsened the problem, while wide-scale proactive culling produced only marginal benefits.

But she does believe the assembly has taken on board the group's statements regarding preventative measures on cattle-to-cattle transmission.

Mrs Kidner said: "The Welsh Assembly will be committing murder when they go ahead with their badger cull in Wales.

"By using all the methods, preventative measures and culling together, there will be no proof to show what actions may cause any reduction in the disease that they are expecting to find."

She sees the cull as a tool to feed the 'kill badger frenzy' the National Farmers' Union and other farming bodies have continued to fuel since the RBCT's conclusion in 2007.

She added: "There will be a huge resistance to this experiment and it does nothing to enhance the reputation of the farming fraternity.

"This experiment is abhorrent to many farmers, who are absolutely against the culling of badgers.

"They believe in the science and will sadly have to sit back and watch this cruel experiment happen.

"Millions of pounds will be spent on killing badgers but will do nothing for the farming produce and tourism in Wales.

"Thousands of people will show their feelings through how they spend their money. The Welsh Assembly will certainly then realise the true cost of their actions.

Mrs Kidner applauded the national Government's decision in July to block a nationwide badger cull. Environment Secretary Hilary Benn told the House of Commons a cull could end up making the disease worse and he was not prepared to take the risk.

In a statement to MPs, he said vaccination would instead be made a priority, with an extra £20 million invested in the next three years.

Bovine TB had declined to an all-time low by the mid-1970s, increased during the 1980s and rose significantly after the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Last year 20,000 cattle had to be 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 in an attempt to reduce the millions of pounds it spends on the disease each year.