A hunt master has been accused of illegally persecuting badgers after he was filmed setting a trap and baiting it with peanuts.

The trap later caught a badger but the animal managed to escape before Christopher White returned.

The footage was passed to the RSPCA, which said it had “given advice about the legal use of traps”.

Mr White, who is joint master of the Barlow Hunt, told the BBC he had not seen the video so could not comment.

“I can’t get the footage so I’m not commenting on nothing,” he said.

The BBC then emailed him the footage but he did not respond.

An RSPCA spokesperson said: “We were made aware of this video footage and an inspector has in this case given advice about the legal use of traps.”

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