Assembly to debate Welsh badger cull plan

Assembly members in Wales are set to vote over whether to annul plans to carry out a badger cull to tackle bovine TB.

Assembly member Peter Black has laid a motion calling for an order authorising a pilot cull of more than 1000 badgers to be dismissed.

The plans for a cull were unveiled by rural affairs minister Elin Jones on 9 March as part of the Badger (Control Area) (Wales) 2011 order.

The Welsh Assembly Government will debate and vote on Mr Black’s motion next Wednesday (23 March).

The Badger Trust welcomed the motion, claiming Ms Jones had ignored cull consultation responses which had questioned the efficacy of killing badgers.

David Williams, chairman of the Badger Trust, said: “Ms Jones’s action betrays a craven desire to placate a noisy and blinkered lobby within the farming industry”.