Rock Guitarist Brian May Leads London March against Badger Cull

LONDON (Reuters) - Protesters dressed as badgers and led by Queen guitarist Brian May marched through central London on Saturday demanding that the government scrap a plan to cull badgers, aimed at slowing the spread of a cattle disease.

About 5,000 of the nocturnal black-and-white animals are due to be shot by marksmen in the six-week pilot cull, authorized to begin on Saturday in two areas in southwestern England.

The cull has divided rural England, pitting farmers determined to protect their livestock and livelihoods against animal lovers who say the plan will not work and will cause suffering to badgers.

Dressed in a black jacket and black shirt with thin white stripes and sporting his signature long bushy curls, the rock musician May chatted with other protesters and posed for photographs with them.

"Thousands of badgers are going to be killed in a scheme which will not make life any easier for farmers," May told the BBC. [More]