Badger cull farmers are targeted by activists "I have seen more police cars coming down the lane this week than in the last 10 years," he said. Any extra cost to the taxpayer is down to protesters taking up police time. All the farmers are doing is carrying out a legal operation. But Brian Davies, founder of Network for Animals, said most of the cost was in carrying out the "unnecessary" cull. "At a time when police resources are stretched, the Government shouldn't have forced them into having to police this completely unnecessary, gravely unpopular and grossly inhumane mass killing of badgers," he said. Mainstream animal rights groups, including the RSPCA, have distanced themselves from illegal action, although they have pledged to fight the cull through putting pressure on farmers not to take part. The more extreme Coalition of Badger Action Groups says it will use "direct action" to stop the cull by making noise around setts where badgers may be at risk and even challenging marksmen. Jim Barrington, a former director of the League Against Cruel Sports who now speaks on behalf of the Countryside Alliance, said it was a return to the days of the hunting debate. He said the same individuals who targeted hunting with dogs were likely to be involved. "It is very cowardly," he said. They do not seem to be interested in a reasonable debate. The disease is there, badgers are a reservoir for the disease. What about the badgers who have already contracted the disease? It a very nasty death. A second licence to allow farmers to carry out a cull in west Somerset is expected to be issued next week after the Crown Estate confirmed that it would allow shooting on its tenanted farms.