Welsh badger culled blocked on technicality

In a worrying move for all involved in the cattle sector, and particularly anyone who has ever been affected by TB or is currently farming in Wales or another TB hotspot, the High Court has today blocked a move by the Welsh Assembly Government to undertake a cull of badgers in the TB hotspot of Pembrokeshire.

What is doubly frustrating is that the High Court does not seem to be questioning the science behind the cull, but has blocked the cull on the grounds of a legal technicality, so finisckity has the court been that the cull has apparently been ruled out on the basis that the order laid down by the Assembly Government refers to all of Wales rather than the proposed cull area.

It seems it is time Ellin Jones to go back to the lawyers and draft a new version of the order ASAP, although it looks likely that it will be 2011 before any cull takes place now. See the story about the cull being blocked on the main FWi site