'Countryfile' presenter gets death threats

A presenter on BBC One programme Countryfile has claimed that his family received death threats after he appeared on a show about the culling of badgers.

Adam Henson, a farmer from Gloucestershire, said that animal rights extremists threatened to "burn" his children over a report on the link between bovine tuberculosis and badgers, reports The Western Daily Press.

Speaking at a farmers' conference in Cornwall, Henson said: "There are some very nasty extremists about. I have had some serious hate letters from them - things like, 'We are going to burn your children'."

The government is currently evaluating the results of a consultation on whether badgers should be culled in England as part of a strategy to tackle bovine TB in cattle.

Henson, who is also co-presenter of BBC Two series Lambing Live with Kate Humble, said that conservation groups and farmers were "at war" over the issue of bovine TB, which is thought to have caused the death of around 38,000 cattle last year.

He said that the accusations against him were particularly unfair as he had worked within strict BBC guidelines while producing the report.

"These guidelines are very strict. So you will never hear me saying we should be culling badgers. My hands are completely tied on the issue. I cannot campaign for anything at all. I simply report what is said on both sides," he said.

"Badgers are fantastic animals to watch and can be a great asset, and there should be middle ground between farming and conservationists on tackling the bovine TB problem."

According to The Guardian, the BBC said that it was investigating the situation.