A team of volunteers are joining forces to rescue wounded badgers after the cull came to Macclesfield.

The government’s badger cull has been rolled out to Macclesfield , meaning that animals on land across Henbury, Siddington, Lower Withington, Marton and Jodrell Bank can be killed.

But a team of volunteers has got together to go out on night patrols and rescue injured badgers. They say are around a dozens people from Macclesfield are taking part in the nighlty patrols.

The Cheshire Wounded Badger Patrol has run group walks on public footpaths every night at 7pm since the cull started last week and have been to areas in Macclesfield including Siddington, Marton and Gawsworth.

In the cull, farmers and landowners are given licences to either shoot badgers or trap them in cages so they can be shot later on.

But the badger patrollers say that 18 per cent of shot animals are still alive after five minutes and it’s their aim to find injured animals and get them seen by a vet.

They also help badgers hit by cars and injured as a result of badger baiting.

A volunteer who lives in Bollington and has 30 years experience helping badgers, but wants to remain anonymous, said: “It makes me distressed that innocent badgers are being slaughtered. Killing badgers is not going to solve the problem.

“We’re running nightly patrols and the more volunteers we have from Macclesfield to more animals we can help.”

Neil Copping, co-ordinator for Cheshire Wounded Badger Patrol, said: “Joining the Wounded Badger Patrol is one of many forms of activism to fight this grossly unfair and unscientific cull.

"Very many people in Cheshire have been opposed to the cull all along, and now it’s actually happening, this is a great way to show solidarity with our badgers by standing up and being counted. Walks are organised by trained co-ordinators and all people need to bring is wet weather gear, hi-vis vest, torches or headlamps, a map, a phone and some snacks.

“We’ve been really delighted by the response so far, which means we can cover a lot of the cull zone, but we’d really like as many volunteers as possible.”

Anyone aged 18 or over can volunteer for Wounded Badger Patrol, and while the majority of the patrols take place at night, there are also early-morning and daytime walks.

Anyone interested in joining Cheshire Wounded Badger Patrol should contact WBPCheshire@mail.com.