A BADGER protection group has condemned death threats to agriculture minister Nick Brown over a cull.

The Newcastle East MP has received threats from animal rights groups over a programme of culling badgers, which are thought to be responsible for passing on TB to cattle.

But Celia Mitchell, of the Dale and Vale Badger Group in North Yorkshire, said they were horrified at the move.

She said: "We do disagree with the way the badger cull is going on but we absolutely condemn any threats of this sort. They are complaining about killing badgers but then going on about killing a person. I can't think of any badger group that would agree with that.

"We want to disassociate ourselves from that completely."