AS Cheshire’s badger cull gets under way, a diverse group of people gathers together each night in Middlewich patrolling for wounded badgers.

Cheshire’s Wounded Badger Patrol is made up of volunteers from a variety of backgrounds and professions including students and retirees, ecologists, conservationists, doctors, nurses, teachers, and council workers.

Many are from Cheshire, others hail from all over the UK.

Over the cull’s six-week duration, protestors aged from 18 to 84 will pound the countryside’s public footpaths from dusk until dawn in a bid to lawfully disrupt it.

But what motivates these volunteers to put themselves in a position that can place them in very close contact to people with guns?

“Sometimes you just know when something is the right thing to do,” says Jane Smith, deputy leader of the Animal Welfare Party and a town councillor in Alsager.

Last year, Cheshire was one of 11 new area where the government allowed badger culling as part of measures aimed at curbing the spread of tuberculosis to cattle.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) said such action is vital to beat the disease and protect the farming industry.

But campaigners, such as the Wounded Badger Group, disagree.

“The badger cull may be lawful but the science and the economics of it just don’t stack up,” said Jane.

“We didn’t want this inhumane cull, they’re not doing this in our name and so we are exercising our democratic right to a peaceful protest.

“We’re aware of the regulations and by sticking to public footpaths we are not trespassing.

"We are monitoring the situation and making sure that licence regulations are being adhered to.”

Under the terms of the cull licence, there are two ways badgers – a legally protected species – can be killed. The first is by using baited cage traps where, once caught, the badger is shot.

The second is free shooting, where badgers are shot from a distance. However, a marksman is not allowed to free shoot if there are humans present, which is the main way the Cheshire Wounded Badger patrol can disrupt the cull.

“It’s important that we are a visible active resistance,” Jane says.

“We’re all dressed in high-vis vests, we carry torches and whistles to make ourselves seen and heard. If they see us they do pack up and go – it’s more than their licence is worth.”

Another reason for the patrols is to look for signs of wildlife crime committed by other people and Jane says patrols will often result in trips to the local wildlife hospital.

“We know from last year that wildlife crime does increase during the cull period,” she said.

“By allowing the badger cull the government has effectively given a green light for lots of other wildlife crime. We’re looking for indications of baiting, traps, or any signs the setts have been interfered with - all of which are completely illegal. We report anything that we find and take any injured wildlife to the local wildlife hospital.”

During the day, Cheshire Wounded Badger Patrol receives intelligence on where the shooting is most likely to take place. Administrators then update the group’s Facebook page with a meeting location, and then the patrols begin.

Jane added: “We don’t break the law. We have a good network of public footpaths across Cheshire and we stick to these, so we are not trespassing. This is our way of protesting peacefully but making sure our objections are seen and heard.”

What is bTB?

Bovine TB is a chronic, progressive and debilitating infectious disease of cattle which devastates thousands of farming businesses each year. Since the mid-80s, bTB in cattle has increased substantially creating an economic burden on the taxpayer and the farming industry, as infected cattle have to be culled.

Why is the cull controversial?

Opposers to the cull say killing badgers is inhumane and ineffective and experts have raised concerns about the policy, saying the gains won’t be large and costs could outweigh the benefits. Research also shows that close contact between badgers and cattle is rare, so the likelihood of direct transmission of the disease is low, calling into question the very reason to cull.

How much does it cost?

Between 2012 and 2014, the tax payer spent £16.8 million on the culling of 2,476 badgers, working out at £6,800 per dead badger. Out of this figure, more than £4.9 million was spent on policing costs. An FOI revealed that the cost of policing the cull in Cheshire in 2017 was £831,000.

What are the alternatives?

Campaigners believe a vaccination of cattle in the long-term, increased biosecurity on land and the vaccination of badgers in the short-term are more effective means of control.