The majority of people back a controversial badger cull to clamp down on bovine TB which is plaguing farms across the South West, according to the findings of new survey.

The poll of more than 1,000 people found that 62 per cent would support a legal cull of badgers, with 38 per cent against.

The results of the National Farmers’ Union-backed survey appear to contradict a BBC poll, published earlier this year, showing around two-thirds of the public were opposed to a badger cull.

Ian Johnson, from the NFU in the South West, said once people looked at the issue “with the heat taken out of it” they started to see the sense of a cull.

He said: “Once the link between TB and badgers is understood, the majority of people back the cull.

“It is a complex and emotive issue and one which has become highly politicised. It should be looked at rationally, with the heat taken out of it.”

But badger groups yesterday dismissed the NFU figures as “nonsense” and insisted the public – and many farmers – would remain opposed to a cull.

The NFU commissioned

independent marketing agency England Marketing to carry out an online surveybetween May 15 and 24. According to the results, just over two-thirds of people said they were aware that cattle catch TB.

When asked if badgers can spread the disease to cattle, around half (49.4 per cent) strongly agreed or agreed, while 41 per cent did not have an opinion and 9.7 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed.

All respondents, with the exception of the 9.7 per cent who did not believe that badgers spread bovine TB, were then asked if they

would support “a legal cull of badgers, as part of a range of measures, in specific areas in order to control bovine TB”, with 62 per cent agreeing.

But Jan Curtis, chairman of Devon Badger Group and herself a retired tenant farmer, said she did not believe a cull would eradicate TB in cattle.

She said: “I know what it’s like standing in the cattle shed waiting for TB results, it’s awful, but I think the majority of people think we should concentrate on finding a vaccine for cattle rather than targeting wildlife.

“There are a lot of farmers who don’t agree with a cull and don’t think it will work.”