ACTIVISTS have leaked the names of organisers of a proposed badger cull in the Newent area this autumn.

A group called the Coalition of Badger Action Groups has identified two farming syndicates responsible for the cull on its website.

"These people are the ones who will organise the cull and employ the shooters," says the coalition, which pledged to support the Badger Trust in a bid to prevent the cull.

"We will be out in the fields before and during the cull stopping and making citizen's arrests on marksmen/women when we can, filming, rescuing injured badgers and neutralising bait points," said the coalition.

The pilot culls are part of the Government's campaign to stamp out bovine tuberculosis.

NFU director of policy Martin Haworth said: "We are disappointed that this has happened and we are doing everything we can to support those individuals who have been named.

"We have asked Defra and Natural England how this information could have been discovered."