NFU response to badger cull incident figures

The NFU has responded to Gloucestershire Police's incident statistics relating to 2014's badger cull. Some 180 incidents were reported in the county.

"This reflects what farmers and local residents told us they had experienced. Protestors claimed that unlawful acts were isolated incidents committed only by a tiny minority, but the sheer number of incidents published by the police shows that, in fact, such behaviour was more widespread.

“We have great sympathy for local residents whose lives were made a misery by protesters determined to do whatever it took to disrupt what were legal, licensed and lawful activities carried out by local people as part of a Government policy to help tackle a terrible disease that is devastating farming family businesses.”

The breakdown of incidents can be read on the Gloucestershire Echo's website here