Stand up for badgers but leave the farmers alone says Chris Packham In fact, it could make the spread of the cattle disease worse, as sick badgers flee from cull areas into new territories. His comments are in contrast to Brian May, the former Queen guitarist, who has said he will not drink milk from farms killing badgers or visit areas where the cull is being carried out. The RSPCA has called for a "badger-friendly" milk label so that consumers can buy only milk from farms that are not taking part in the cull. More extreme groups are threatening to trespass on private land to stop the shooting of badgers and even vandalise supermarkets taking milk from the cull area. The National Farmers Unions said the "cowardly" attempts to disrupt the cull will not stop farmers taking legal action to stop the spread of the disease destroying their business. The union has described threats to boycott milk as "intimidation." The threat of direct action has also led supermarkets to back away from protests against the cull. The Co-operative and Asda have made clear they are "neutral" on the government policy, despite the claims of activists that the retailers are against killing badgers because they do not source from the cull area. M&S and Waitrose do not source milk from cull areas either, but they have declined to make statements against the cull, also remaining neutral. Sainsburys, Morrisons and Tesco have consistently said they will support farmers in whatever they decide to do. Government quango Natural England issued a licence for farmers to shoot badgers in Gloucestershire last week. However the cull may not go ahead for "several weeks" as farmers need to gather all the funds for the four year cull, thought to be around £500,000, before they are given the final go ahead,. Also Natural England has to complete surveys of the badger setts, decide how many animals are to be killed and approve the individuals carrying out the shooting. A licence for a cull in West Somerset is expected to be issued within the next ten days and will also then need at least a week to gather funds and complete surveys etc. Protesters claim the delay is because many farmers are having second thoughts about the cull. More than 100,000 people have signed a petition against the policy. However Natural England insisted it was going ahead in both areas, farmers just need time to bring together funds and complete necessary paperwork. Collection only formally started last week and we would not expect funds to be fully in place after so short a time. We are not aware of any problems that have arisen over the first week.