Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust is horrified at the possibility of the county being included in this year's badger cull.

The Trust is asking people to support their public campaign to stop the cull by signing an online petition and contacting their MP.

A badger cull is expected to be announced shortly and to begin across over 50 areas in England this autumn.

A list of the cull areas, believed to have been leaked by Government, revealed several areas including Leicestershire appearing on the list for the first time.

The Wildlife Trusts oppose culling and believe the science used to justify the killing of thousands of badgers every year in the UK is flawed.

A recent study by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has shown that a badger cull cannot be justified in the county, including in the Government's own terms, because there is no evidence that TB is endemic in Derbyshire badgers.

Over the last five years, Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust in partnership with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust has been running a successful vaccination programme in two strategic areas of Leicestershire, proving that there is a much more humane way to tackle bovine tuberculosis that is also much cheaper per badger than culling.

The Trust is concerned that a cull will result in vaccinated badgers being shot and disrupt the ability of the programme to expand.

John Clarkson, Head of Conservation at Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust said: "Bovine TB is a horrible disease with devastating effects on affected cattle, farmers and their livelihoods.

"However, we do not believe that culling badgers is the answer to the spread of the disease with evidence showing no scientific case for culling locally and our supporters have made it clear that they do not support culling either.

"The possibility that badgers could be shot in Leicestershire for the first time is devastating news, it will seriously undermine the long-term investment we and the public have made and risk the future of our vaccination programme."