The government has expanded its badger culling program and offer farmers up to £50 bounty for each animal killed. The killing of these animals is wrong and has a disastrous impact on the ecosystem. That is why it must be stopped.

I’m an ecologist, a zoo keeper and a teacher of agriculture and environmental science - I know how important badgers are to our environment. They disperse seeds which help plants grow, and they build tunnels which end up being used by foxes, rabbits, otters and other animals.

Over 50,000 badgers were culled by farmers in the last 2 years and if we keep on going this way it will have a serious impact on our environment. In the past, wolves, lynxes and wild boars were hunted to extinction and are now having to be reintroduced - why are we repeating the same mistakes again with the badger?

The government says this is part of a program to stop the spread of bovine TB, but previous trials of culling badgers have not successfully stopped the disease. Vaccinations would be a far more ethical way of stopping TB, along with increased hygiene measures in farms.

Badgers are an iconic symbol of the British countryside, and killing them will leave a huge hole in the ecosystem and do long term damage to our environment.

Please sign now to stop the cull happening.