PENSIONER Eileen Johnson has spoken out against the badger cull in Gloucestershire, despite having had Bovine TB as a child.
Supporters of the cull in the county, which is licensed to begin from today near Tewkesbury and in the Forest of Dean, blame badgers for spreading the disease among cattle.
But although Mrs Johnson, from Prestbury, was ill with the condition after drinking milk more than 70 years ago, she is not in favour of shooting badgers.
She believes the authorities could have come up with a less drastic way of dealing with the problem.
She said: "It makes me sad and cross that there have been all those years since I had the disease and nothing has been done to control it."
She felt a vaccination for cattle and badgers should have been developed by now.
"It makes me sad that it has come to this," she said. "It's been over 70 years since I was ill and now they're shooting animals and saying it's down to them.
"The Government should have spent money on all this years ago."
She feared the cull might make the spread of Bovine TB in cattle worse.