Dear Editor: It appears that it is wrong, cruel and barbaric to cull badgers, but it is not wrong, cruel and barbaric to cull thousands of cows, bullocks, and even pretty dewy-eyed little calves.

Nobody is talking about making badgers extinct, just keeping the numbers right so that they are healthy.

TB is a horrid, slow painful death for badgers to suffer.

Badger lovers may enjoy watching the animals on a few beautiful summer evenings, but farmers have reared calves — feeding, cleaning, bedding morning and evening, seen them every day at grass as they grow, watched them mature, and calve down then milked them every morning and every evening for years.

Do badger lovers imagine that a farmer is not fond of his animals, that there is no heart-break as his cows are taken away for slaughter and his business is compromised — ruined — so that his wife and kids suffer deprivation?

Farmers do get compensation, but it’s cost the taxpayer (including badger lovers) millions of pounds.

No stone should be left unturned to get this country free of TB, which it was when badgers were not protected.

Let’s get things in proportion. Let’s have healthy cattle and healthy wildlife and thriving farm businesses and food in everyone’s bellies.

J. Folder Tything Barn, West Williamston, Kilgetty.