In his letter “Have your say on the badger cull proposals” (WMN letters Oct 13), Theo Hopkins puts his finger on the nub of the problem.

Badgers, acknowledged by all as a causal link in the transmission of bovine TB, are wild creatures, who live and wander where they will, unlike cattle which are subject to the most Draconian disease testing regimes, movement controls and, ultimately, slaughter in their tens of thousands, in a vainly one-dimensional and demonstrably unsuccessful attempt to stop the remorseless spread of this disease.

Applicants for licences to cull badgers will be obliged to consider those who do not wish to participate and those people will have an opportunity to comment before any licence is issued.

They can certainly investigate vaccination and “badger proof” fencing, neither of which will turn back the tidal wave of disease, at their own expense if they so desire.

But, clearly, where badgers from setts on such non-participatory areas are foraging on surrounding land, especially when it is accommodating vulnerable livestock, non-participants should accept that these badgers will be legitimately targeted by any control operations around their boundaries.