ALTHOUGH badger cull opponents wished the delay to the process could continue the resumption of trial shooting of the animals in Gloucestershire is due to start over the next few days.

Postponed because of a number of factors – including a shortage of police officers during the Olympics and Paralympics, and the beginning of the breeding season for badgers – the cull is expected to begin on private land 'north of Gloucester and east of Newent'.

Over the last weekend activists opposed to the cull have regrouped, and although there are now more than six different organisations involved in protesting and campaigning against the shooting, the internet has brought many of them together.

A spokesman for the Brock group, Andrew Stannard, told the Review: "The shooting of local badgers could start at any time now – but we expect there will be some delays as the hunting parties need to be briefed and trained by firearms experts.

"There are concerns that the guns they are using are very powerful, and could propel a bullet for up to two miles beyond their intended target."

Activists sprang into action last year when reports were posted on the net of groups of men armed with rifles seen on land between Cheltenham and Newent. This led to a brief stand-off between the anti-cull protestors and a shooting party, who claimed that they were not part of the badger cull, but only an a 'rough shoot' in local woodland.

Secrecy surrounds the actual location of the local cull, as Defra and Natural England, who have organised the shooting, are concerned over intimidation of participating landowners and potential disruption to the huntsmen from protestors.

In a leaflet produced by Gloucestershire Against Badger Shooting (GABS) they said: "The licences issued by Natural England will be for free shooting at night using high velocity rifles and shotguns. Bullets which miss a target are capable of travelling more than a mile. The public will not be told the start date or exact areas."

If the trial culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset are deemed a success, then the way will be open for the Government to roll out the cull nationally.