MARK Evans (ViewPoints, March 21) is correct in stating that our badger population has been made the scapegoat for the failings of the dairy industry.

It is no coincidence either that plans are now underway to massacre half of our deer population.

The deer also carry TB (both species having contracted the disease initially from the cattle) and the Government and NFU hope to massage the statistics to maximize any slight reduction in TB in cattle after the badger cull.

However, they wish at all costs to avoid informing the public about TB in deer, since this would destroy the lucrative venison industry.

Landowners will then be able to make a killing by selling venison at a time when the public are turning against other forms of meat and the deer will then be allowed to return to previous numbers.

Since we are now ruled by the Countryside Alliance, those who genuinely care about our wildlife have only one recourse – to join the increasing boycott of all dairy and meat products, or at least to explore some of the many healthier alternatives in an effort to reduce personal consumption.

MARK PRITCHARD, Linkside Avenue, Oxford