Badger cull challenge approved
The decision by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to permit the culling of badgers in a pilot programme this autumn is to be subject to a judicial review in the High Court after a challenge was brought by the Badger Trust. Mr Justice Irwin informed the Trust that permission has been granted for the review to take place on all three of the grounds submitted in the Trust's original request.
Commenting, the Badger Trust’s solicitor (Gwendolen Morgan of Bindmans LLP) said “We are pleased that the court has given the Badger Trust’s challenge the green light on all three grounds. The badger cull as proposed would make matters worse at great cost to farmers, badgers and rural communities.”
Also commenting, National Farmer's Union (NFU)President Peter Kendall said “We hope that the hearing will be expedited. No other country in the world has ever tackled TB successfully without also controlling TB in its wildlife reservoir”, adding that “The NFU fully supports the two badger control pilots areas as part of the Government’s science-led policy to tackle what is a terrible and damaging disease. We all want to see a healthy countryside and that needs healthy badgers and healthy cattle.”
With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.
