POLICE have confirmed that officers are on full alert from tonight, ready for when  the government's badger cull begins in Gloucestershire, a week after shooting began in Somerset.

Humane Society International UK's director Mark Jones is attending the cull tonight, taking part in the Wounded Badger Patrol, a peaceful and law-abiding gathering of volunteers who plan to patrol the footpaths to observe and monitor the shooting and report and assist any wounded badgers they may find.

Vet and Gloucestershire resident Mark Jones said: "We are deeply saddened to have confirmed the grim news that we have been dreading, that badgers in Gloucestershire will be targeted by shooters from tonight.

"As a vet and animal welfare professional, I have deep concerns about the suffering these animals are likely to endure. Killing a badger cleanly with a rifle or shot gun in the pitch dark, is extremely difficult and the chances of inflicting non-lethal injuries is high. Badgers could very well sustain excruciatingly painful bullet wounds, and those who retreat underground will die a slow and agonising death.

"Their suffering is made all the more unpalatable by the fact that this cull is going ahead despite having no scientific credibility and contributing little to reducing cattle TB in this country," he continued. "It is a travesty that this slaughter is going ahead but we will do all we can to campaign peacefully and within the law to bear witness to the badgers' fate."