Badger cull campaigners lose legal battle

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/29/badger-cull-campaigners-lose-legal-battle

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A legal challenge to how the government monitors the humaneness of it badger culls has been defeated.

The Badger Trust applied for a judicial review in August to declare the lack of an independent team monitoring of a second round of culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire unlawful.

But on Wednesday the court of appeal rejected the Trust’s challenge, meaning any future culls would be able to go ahead without such monitoring.

The first culls, which took place last year in a bid to tackle bovine TB which can be spread from badgers to cattle, were deemed to have failed the humaneness test by an independent expert panel. Not enough badgers were shot in the pilot culls, leading to the abandonment of plans for a nationwide roll-out.

Figures obtained by the Guardian suggest the second round of culling this year has failed, with just 253 badgers killed in Gloucestershire out of a minimum target of 615 after a six-week cull. If fewer badgers than the minimum target are killed, it can increase bovine TB infections due to the perturbation effect of making badgers move around more than usual.

In its appeal, the Badger Trust claimed the environment secretary, Liz Truss, had given assurances that a second round of culls would take place with independent monitors.

However, Lord Justice Bean wrote in his judgement that Truss had not made “any clear, unambiguous and unqualified representation” on the independent expert panel continuing beyond its first year.

All three lord justices dismissed the appeal.

Jeff Hayden, financial director and the Trust’s lead on the judicial review challenge said: “If the second year of the pilots has not met the standards determined by the secretary of state, she [Truss] must acknowledge that the pilots are a failure and culling cannot be rolled out more widely.

“Instead, Defra should commit to rigorous cattle control measures as employed in Wales where a reduction of 48% in bovine TB has been achieved during the last five years. The small threat from badgers should be dealt with by vaccination rather than inhumane and ineffective slaughter.”

Wendy Higgins, a spokeswoman for Humane Society International/UK, said: “This challenge was about one aspect of the cull only, that the government totally abandoned independent oversight to monitor the humaneness or otherwise of the killing. The judges’ decision about that one issue doesn’t alter the fact that the badger cull is an abuse of animal welfare and without scientific foundation.”