The Badger Trust is demanding a criminal investigation into comments made by a farmer on radio about gassing badgers with the exhaust of an "old petrol engine." The farmer announced he had borne witness to illegal badger killing on a BBC Radio 4 broadcast.

The farmer claimed on a Radio 4 programme broadcast on 4th August that he had witnessed setts being gassed on several occasions, as farmers took the law into their own hands in a misguided attempt to control bovine TB.

Badgers are a protected species and the killings could have serious legal implications for the perpetrators. The BBC programme interviewed a farmer who showed the presenter one of the "dozens of setts" where he said badgers had been killed.

The BBC agreed not to name the farmer, who claimed the actions of his associates came after "every farm in this area had gone down with bovine TB." He said, "Most of us had lost a lot of money, lost a lot of cattle, and we were fed up with the Government not doing anything, and were also fed up of seeing sick badgers struggling to live".

He described how he was present at the killing, but did not actually take part. He also revealed how it was done, "You have an old petrol engine, you put a pipe down the hole here, you have the engine running, and once the holes are completely blocked up you run the engine and that puts the badger to sleep underground. But it's a sick sett. The whole family group is put to sleep humanely".

Radio 4 presenter Nick Ravenscroft, who interviewed the farmer, told him, "There are plenty of people who would say that what was happening that night - which you were watching and friends of yours were doing - is not only illegal but it's wrong and inhumane".

The farmer responded that his actions were merciful, saying, "I don't think it's inhumane at all. Is it actually inhumane to actually sit and watch an animal suffer"  He described the farmers involved in illegal badger killing as "law-abiding citizens" who had been driven to the acts "through lack of action and lack of help from governments."

Badger experts condemn gassing

However, David Williams, chair of the Badger Trust, condemned the farmers' actions, saying, "This interview showed the depth of ignorance among this farmer and his friends about the basic facts in respect of badgers and their setts and revealed the brutality behind the demands of the livestock industry."

He revealed that scientific research shows all forms of gassing are ineffective at reaching all parts of a sett and are therefore considered as inhumane. He also pointed out that government trials showed small localized killing of badgers spreads rather the disease instead of containing it. Me Williams condemned the acts described to the BBC, "amateurish and sporadic brutality like this is the worst possible action to take."

The Badger Trust said in a statement about the programme, "The average incidence of disease among badgers is known to be as low as one in eight, even in ‘bTB hotspots'. There is no such thing as a sick sett, badgers living in the same sett do not all have tb. Researchers with 30 years of experience rarely see any badger showing signs of suffering with tb.

"Badgers are very tough and do not die easily; they would make every effort to dig their way out to escape choking fumes; the farmers mentioned on the programme are anything but ‘law abiding citizens' and must be prosecuted."