Battle lines are being drawn in the South West countryside as the nine-week consultation period on a proposed cull of badgers comes to an end.

The Government plans a limited cull of badgers to stop the spread of bovine tuberculosis, responsible for the death of tens of thousands of cattle every year, reducing beef and dairy producers to despair, with movement restrictions prohibiting them from trading.

While badgers are blamed by the farming industry for the spread, animal rights campaigners are struggling to prevent a cull – and have collected 65,000 signatures on 27 online petitions.

The Government proposals are for two pilot culls of 70 per cent of all badgers in hotspot areas, one of them in the South West. Badgers would be shot when running free.

But many members of the livestock industry say the measures would be too highly complex to administer, and that Natural England was the wrong authority to issue licences.

They would rather another Government agency, Animal Welfare, run by vets rather than environmentalists, was responsible.

Both the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) and the National Beef Association insist that the proposed cull was the only offer likely to be made. But the NFU also says it wants to see changes to the framework and has made representations during the consultation period.

So worried was its hierarchy about the attitude of farmers to the proposals that its president, Peter Kendall, travelled to Exeter Market in Devon to reassure members.

At the closure of the consultation period yesterday Mr Kendall commented: “We are supportive of the announcement made by Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman about a proposed cull back in July.

“We want to see an effective, carefully managed and science-led policy of badger controls.

“For it to work effectively it must be part of a range of measures, including a combination of existing cattle tests, movement restrictions, the slaughter of test-positive animals, good on-farm bio- security and, longer-term, vaccination.

“We are confident that farmers and wildlife managers are ready and able to meet the challenges ahead. We have planned and are fully prepared to put in place self-financing groups that will meet the requirements of the proposals.”

Principal opponents of the proposed cull are the Badger Trust, the RSPCA and the Labour Party.

The Badger Trust added that it had responded comprehensively to the consultation in its capacity as the organisation solely dedicated to the conservation, welfare and protection of wild badgers, their setts and habitats.