The High Court is expected to make an announcement this week on whether claims lodged against Defra by the Badger Trust over the former’s controversial plans to kill badgers will stand. The High Court will announce its decision by Friday on whether ministers’ policy of culling badgers in an attempt to prevent the spread of bovine TB in England will be subject to judicial review.

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If a review does go ahead, it will take place over the summer, as culling is due to start in trial locations in Gloucester and Somerset this autumn. There are concerns over several aspects of the cull; the Badger Trust has warned that plans have been improperly costed and that the ‘free shooting’ methodology to be trialled may be both inhumane and ineffective.

The trust has accused the Westminster government of hypocrisy over its selection of two locations which will be optimal for trialling ‘free shooting’ of badgers, after having made calls for debate over culling to be “science-led.”

The trust mounted its legal challenge in February based on three grounds;

• That Defra’s costing is flawed, as it acknowledges that the ‘cage and shoot’ methodology will have to be adopted, at much greater cost, if its preferred methodology is outlawed after initial trials, but has not factored this into its assessment;
• That appointing Natural England, whose remit mainly covers conservation efforts, as licensing authority is invalid, as it is not an intended function of the department.
• That ‘reducing incidence,’ which Defra has promised the culls will achieve, is not the same as ‘preventing the spread of disease,’ the purpose for which legal power was granted. At best, Defra figures show nine years of culling will reduce bovine TB by 12-16 per cent.

Industry pressure groups have pledged their support for the cull, with NFU president Peter Kendall urging farmers to sign up to culling companies, set up this year in trial areas, and promote the cause in discussions with the general public.

However, in Wales the recently elected government has rejected cull plans. Having halted cull plans passed by the previous Welsh assembly government pending a review of the scientific evidence, the Welsh government announced last month that it would be introducing a programme of vaccination instead of pursuing culling. A previous attempt to cull badgers was quashed in court following a legal challenge by the Badger Trust in 2010.  

In England, official bTB rates for 2012, published today by Defra, show that incidences of the disease have fallen compared to 2011 figures. The provisional incidence rate for January 2012 is 4.3 per cent, compared to 5.3 per cent in January 2011. There were reductions in both the number of new herd incidents and the number of cattle compulsorily slaughtered.

Bovine TB is a devastating livestock disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis. The Bacterium can also infect and cause TB in badgers, deer, goats, pigs, camelids (llamas and alcapas), dogs and cats, and a number of other mammals. Opponents of culling have suggested using stricter cattle measures and investing in research to provide alternatives to culling which may be more effective than culling.

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