Police officers could become exhausted because they cannot book any more leave this year as a result of the imminent badger cull, it has been claimed.
Gloucestershire Police said it would not be authorising any further time off before January in anticipation of expected clashes between farmers, marksmen and animal rights activists, according to a report in The Gloucester Echo.
Gloucestershire Police Federation has questioned the decision, saying officers will become more stressed and exhausted which could lead to mistakes. It has said it is considering speaking to the Health and Safety Executive.
The force said in a statement: "We will not be authorising any further annual leave or time off requests for police officers, except in exceptional circumstances, until the New Year.
"This is regrettable, but is standard practice when planning for events which may place increased demands on our resources. Any leave already booked will be honoured."
No date has been set for the start of the cull, but in September Natural England announced it had issued a licence "permitting the control of badgers in West Gloucestershire for the purpose of preventing the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB)".
The announcement stated: "Application for a licence was made by a specially formed company representing farming and land management interests covering approximately 300km2 and over 70% of the West Gloucestershire pilot area.
"Under the terms of the licence, and in accordance with the criteria specified in the bTB control policy, licensees will be authorised to reduce badger populations in the pilot area by at least 70% and maximum numbers will be specified to prevent the risk of local extinction."
Two councils have already voted to oppose the cull. At a full meeting of Tewkesbury Council on 2 October the majority of members said they did not want to see the controversial measure used on council controlled farm land in the area. The vote came just days after civic chiefs in the Forest of Dean also moved to block the cull.
Meanwhile, an online poll carried out by The Gloucestershire Citizen showed overwhelming opposition to the cull: 2,100 said no to the question "Do you agree with the proposed badger cull?", while just 227 said yes. A further nine were undecided.
Liz Gaffer, the spokesman for Gloucestershire Against Badger Shooting, told the paper: "There are many reasons for people being against it and principally these are the scientific evidence saying this will make no difference and concerns over health and safety."
Opposition nationally is being led by celebrated Queen guitarist Brian May, who is reported to have claimed the cull could cost David Cameron his job. An online petition attracted 144,000 signatories in three weeks.