ANIMAL protection campaigners staged a protest against the culling of badgers outside the Three Counties Show in Malvern on Friday.

The protesters carried placards and banners and several of them wore badger costumes, as they distributed leaflets urging showgoers to oppose the cull and go vegan.

Ronald Lee, communications officer for Worcestershire Vegans and Veggies, whose members took part in the protest, said: "We wanted to urge the government and the National Farmers Union to stop the culling of badgers and to educate people about a humane diet that did not involve the suffering and slaughter of farmed animals.

"The demonstrators gave out hundreds of leaflets to people going into the show and were very pleased at the considerable support they received from members of the public, including many toots of agreement from passing motorists.

"Hundreds of badgers have already been shot in Gloucestershire, Somerset and Dorset in the last three years, and now it is intended to extend the cull to Herefordshire and other areas.

"The government states that the reason for the badger cull is to prevent the spread of TB in cattle, but there is a very large amount of evidence that it will not be effective in doing this and could well make the problem worse."