Brian May's animal welfare charity Save Me has today mounted a legal challenge of Natural England's decision to grant an eight week extension to cull companies in Gloucestershire. The extension was granted after trial badger culls in both the Gloucestershire and Somerset fell short of targets within initial allotted timeframe of six weeks.

image expired

Companies culling badgers in Somerset and Gloucestershire both failed to kill 70 percent of the estimated badger population, which government advisors had said would be necessary for the deeply controversial policy to have an effect on bovine TB in the area. The effect of culling on levels of bovine TB in either cattle or badger populations will not be measured as part of the trial culls.

Earlier in the month, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson revealed that a three week extension to the Somerset cull had failed to deliver a 70 percent kill rate. The Gloucestershire extension was granted by Natural England in late October, meaning shooting will be allowed to continue in the cull zone until 18th December. Shooters in Gloucestershire only managed to kill 30 percent of the estimated badger population in the first six weeks of culling.  

Save Me's legal representatives are seeking an emergency High Court Judicial Review, which they claim must be undertaken before the extension ends. Papers were served in the High Court on Tuesday (26^th November). Save Me claims that, in granting the extension, Natural England acted against the advice of its scientific advisor David MacDonald.

Furthermore, DEFRA's Chief Scientific Offer declined to comment on the proposed extension before he had seen the Independent Experts Report in October, which, according to Save Me, means the Natural England's decision "was made without taking reference to the Independent Experts' Assessment." The licensing body delayed its decision by a number of days in October.

John Cooper QC said on Tuesday, "From the material I have seen already, it is clear that appropriate procedures have not been taken in relation to this action, which will inevitably lead to the destruction of more wildlife if the Government remains unchallenged. In all the circumstances and for the grounds we have set out, we assert that the decisions made by DEFRA, the Secretary of State and Natural England, separately and or cumulatively were unreasonable and should be immediately revoked."

Anti-cull vet and director of Humane Society International in the UK, Mark Jones, welcomed the move. He said, "It was quite wrong for the extended cull licenses to be granted before the Independent Expert Panel had even convened to deliberate on the effectiveness, humaneness and safety of the original six week pilots. Indeed we are still awaiting the results of those deliberations.

"In this respect, I believe the advice given by the Chief Veterinary Officer in October, on which much weight has been placed to justify the extensions, was fundamentally flawed. I hope the badgers get their day in court, they have had little enough justice so far."