A WEST Wales assembly member has demanded action following a BBC investigation into animal cruelty in Pembrokeshire.

Animal cruelty campaigner Joyce Watson AM called for UK government action in response to BBC Wales' investigation into badger baiting in Wales.

The programme showed months of undercover filming of the abuse of dogs and badgers in Pembrokeshire and across Wales to the English border and beyond.

Mid and West Wales Welsh Assembly Member Mrs Watson said: "The behaviour shown on this film was barbaric, both to the badgers and the dogs.

"Sadly, it did not surprise me that as well as abusing their dogs, some were also breeding them.

"I must applaud the BBC Wales team for their painstaking and dangerous investigation into these brutal criminals, and I hope this evidence is used to bring those involved to justice, which may deter others.

"I believe the UK Government should take urgent action to effectively enforce one of their own priorities, using stronger sentencing and clearer structures to monitor this loathsome activity, so an accurate record of the scale of the problem can be established."

Sue Hayman MP, Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, is interviewed in the programme.

She sets out actions which she believes will change behaviours, and she criticises the current lack of deterrence and weak enforcement.

The MP also calls for stronger sentencing and also a change to the system, as these crimes do not currently needed to be recorded to government.

Joyce Watson continued: "I will not dignify this with the name blood sport, as it is a travesty of sporting values. It is simply cruelty by people who are driven towards inflicting extreme violence against wildlife and their own dogs for some perverse self-satisfaction.

"I want to see this activity relegated to the history books, where it belongs."

BBC Wales Investigates programme uncovering badger baiting rings across Wales is available via the iPlayer.