Though no official figures are currently available on the issue and wildlife groups have said the majority of cases go unreported, concerns have been raised over wildlife persecution arising as a result of badger culling proposals, which went awry late last month.

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Following similar reported attacks in Gloucestershire and Derbyshire, three badgers were found shot and dumped by the side of a road in Ellesmere, Shropshire in September.

Police officials and wildlife groups had warned that reprisal attacks and an increased incidence persecution were likely in the wake of the fervour created in the run-up to two trial badger culls, which were postponed at the last minute in October. Badgers are legally protected under the Bern Convention, but police sources said last month that wildlife crime could increase as the result of "a perception that Defra is not really bothered about (badgers’) protected status."

The Westminster government had planned to go ahead with trial badger culls in areas of Gloucestershire and Somerset earlier this year as part of its Bovine TB eradication programme, but these were abruptly cancelled just days before killing was due to start when it was revealed early assessments of badger numbers had vastly underestimated populations in the two areas.

Shropshire badger Group announced on 6th November that three badgers had been dumped by the side of an isolated road near Ellesmere to make them look like road-kill, and that post-mortems had revealed they had in fact been shot. A spokesperson for Shropshire Badger Group said the group had been alerted to the incident by a dog walker, and that the badgers’ injuries had been inconsistent with the results of a road accident.

Jim Ashley, the group’s spokesperson, said anyone persecuting badgers would be "doing the farming community a disservice," as the cruel treatment could cause badgers to flee their sets, whereupon any infected with bTB could spread the disease to previously unaffected areas.

Shropshire and Cheshire Wildlife Trusts began vaccinating badgers against bTB around the border between the two counties in October. The vaccination project, one of a number being conducted across the UK by other Wildlife Trusts, will continue for five years.

The news from Shropshire follows reports that police in Northern Ireland are investigating the shooting of four badgers, which were found in Coleraine in October. The Northern Irish government has begun a vaccination programme, similar to that adopted by the Welsh Government, as part of its strategy to address bovine TB.

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