QUEEN ‘axeman’ Brian May is calling on the Prime Minister to back down on the proposed controversial badger cull due to take place in West Somerset.

The guitarist, who is also founder of the Save Me animal welfare campaign, was among speakers at a public meeting at The Brewhouse Theatre in Taunton on Friday.

Over 250 people attended the meeting, co-hosted by the League Against Cruel Sports, the RSPCA, Secret World, Save Me, Network for Animals, the Humane Society, Care for the Wild International and the Stroud 100.

It was organised to rally support against the cull, proposed by DEFRA in two pilot areas in West Somerset and West Gloucestershire in a bid to combat bovine TB.

But Brian May called for vaccination of cattle instead of culling badgers to tackle the disease, saying: “All the science tells us badger culling isn’t the right solution.

“It’s hard to understand why the Government’s keen to follow this policy on culling badgers. It’s rather ludicrous.”

An underlying theme of the meeting was the importance of staying united to give more weight to lobbying the Government.

Pauline Kidner, of Secret World Wildlife Rescue in Highbridge, also spoke at the theatre and said afterwards: “The meeting went very well – we were very pleased that so
many people were there. People obviously have a huge interest in moving forward to campaign against the cull of badgers.

“It was great to see all these groups and charities, large and small, joining together so we can have a voice against the cull.

“If the science said culling badgers was the answer I’d have to go with that but it will make matters worse. We all want a solution to bovine TB but it isn’t culling badgers.”

The Badger Trust has also decided to appeal against the High Court’s decision to throw out the charity’s judicial review of the cull on July 12.