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A controversial cull of badgers in West Wales has been announced for later this year, to tackle the spread of TB in cattle.

The Welsh Assembly Government insists the cull is necessary as part of a programme of measures aimed at eradicating the disease in the TB hotspot area of North Pembrokeshire and parts of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire.

Compensation for cattle slaughtered due to bovine TB rocketed to £24.5 million last year, and the Assembly claims a cull could help to stamp out the disease.

But a retired senior scientific advisor to the government has described the decision to cull as "perverse" and warned that it "flies in the face of the science" and may even make the problem worse.

Tonight's "Eye on Wales" travels to Pembrokeshire to investigate and meet those affected by the disease, including a farmer who has lost more than 150 cattle to TB, and campaigners who hope to challenge the cull through the courts.

The cull is due to begin later this Spring and cover a 288-square kilometre area of countryside.

It will continue over a five-year period alongside tighter restrictions on cattle movements, improved TB testing regimes and better bio-security to protect cattle from the disease.

It's the first official cull of its kind in Britain and has put the Welsh Assembly Government at the centre of a storm of protest, from wildlife experts, animal rights campaigners and some farmers and other landowners within the cull area.

Speaking on tonight's programme, one farmer calls for the Assembly to reconsider and instead carry out a selective cull and vaccination programme, similar to that being trialled in parts of England.

Assembly chief vet Christiane Glossop and rural affairs minister, Elin Jones, answer their critics and defend the decision.