BADGER protection groups fear that a new onslaught by the Ministry of Agriculture in parts of Herefordshire and the Forest of Dean could be imminent.
The Herefordshire Badger Group has learned that trapping and killing badgers is about to resume in East Cornwall and believe this signals a new round of activity.
The group knows that traps have been brought into the Hereford area although it has been told that no animals have so far been caught or destroyed.
However, the group says, Ministry field workers in the area have been asked to work at weekends, in addition to their normal duties, for six weeks in October and early November.
Sarah Blenkinsop of the Herefordshire Badger Group said: "This information obtained by the National Federation of Badger Groups is very worrying and it doesn't look good for the badgers of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.
"We can't be absolutely sure that MAFF are heading our way but we know, from what MAFF has said in the past, that the field operatives trap and shoot badgers over a 12-day period.
"Obviously if they have been asked to work weekends for the next six weeks it looks like they will do more than just one 12-day session of badger culling in East Cornwall."
The Ministry cull has been organised in an attempt to establish links between tuberculosis in badgers and dairy cattle.
The culling plans were curtailed in spring this year to allow animals to breed in peace.