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This article explains:  “The row over badger culling has erupted again, with Labour describing government plans to allow farmers to shoot the animals on their land as the “big society badger cull”.

“The government has yet to respond publicly to a Defra consultation on proposals for a cull in England, but ministers have given a heavy steer that they will approve plans to allow groups of volunteers to organise their own shooting expeditions to kill badgers in affected areas, after applying for an appropriate firearms licence.

“The Tory minister in charge, Jim Paice, has described the culls as “free shooting”.”

All of which makes me reflect how difficult it is to be responsible for managing rural landscapes and farms and to be sentimental at the same time.

This is a classic case of a hard headed need for business survival and our national nature as animal lovers colliding.

There are pros and cons on both sides but it is a shame to see this issue becoming a political football in the context of the badinage around the Big Society.