The High Court this morning quashed the Badger Trust’s legal challenge to the government’s proposed trial badger culls, which are set to go ahead in Somerset and Gloucestershire later this year.

The culls are part of the government’s bovine TB eradication policy, but the Badger trust had warned they had been improperly costed, would prove inhumane and ineffectual and had suggested the use of Natural England as a licensing body was inappropriate. The Trust described free-shooting, the method suggested in the current proposals, as “a cut-price expediency risking a cruel and brutal outcome for a protected species and increased outbreaks for farmers both within and around the culling zone.”

Although the High Court judge, Mr Justice Ouseley, accepted that the costs might increase tenfold if free-shooting was ruled out for being inhumane, unsafe or ineffective and replaced with ‘trap and shoot’ methodology, he pointed to the fact that the proposals cover trial culls. The judge explained that after the first year of trialling the cull in two pilot areas, Defra would review the cost- benefit analysis in those areas to see if the scheme should be rolled out more widely.

Following the announcement, the badger Trust said it may launch an appeal, which is still open to written application. The trust said it is considering its options with legal advisers. It has seven days to appeal and, as the culls are scheduled to begin in ‘early autumn’, such a challenge could still delay culling.

The NFU welcomed the news; policy director Martin Haworth commented, “We are reassured to hear today’s outcome. Given the public interest in this issue, we always knew that there would be a legal challenge to the policy. We are pleased that the judge has ruled that the proper processes have been followed and that Defra’s approach is lawful.”

Presidents of the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA), Carl Padgett and Andrew Praill added their support. The two said in a joint statement, “The BVA and BCVA believe that the Government’s approach has been robust and justifiable.”

However, critics have suggested that, even though they have been found to be lawful, cull proposals may yet prove ineffective and inhumane. Rosie Woodroffe, an expert from the Institute of Zoology who worked on the Randomised Badger Culling Trial conducted under the previous government, on which much of the current government’s evidence is based, tweeted, “Farmers will still lose out even if culling is lawful.”

David Williams, Chair of the Badger Trust, said that the court’s ruling does not change the science around culling and only proves that the government has acted legally thus far. He said, “We have always seen it as our duty to use all legal means of persuasion to overturn unjust decisions such as the Coalition Government’s and we shall continue to publicise scientific facts so grievously distorted by the cattle industry.

“Scotland is officially bTB-free and the Welsh Government has decided to vaccinate badgers and step up its cattle-focussed measures rather than kill badgers unnecessarily. However, despite a constant stream of evidence that culling will make matters worse and growing consternation from many farmers, the Coalition Government intends to press ahead with its expensive and pointless policy.”

Tweet