Wildlife charities launch legal challenge against cull

Two wildlife campaign groups have joined forces to launch a legal challenge to end badger culling in England.

A peer-reviewed scientific analysis of Defra’s badger control policy in England has shown a 56% fall in bovine TB rates in cull zones after four years, but the Badger Trust and Wild Justice are seeking a judicial review of Natural England’s decision to grant of culling licences.

Wild Justice said a legal paper seeking a formal judicial review had been lodged with the court system last week.

See also: Badger Trust slams Labour’s backpedalling on badger cull

“We know that Natural England has issued 26 supplementary badger cull licences against scientific advice from its own experts,” it said.

“We sent a pre-action protocol letter to Natural England last month, but we weren’t satisfied by their response and are now taking the next step and seeking a formal judicial review.”

The badger culling programme in England has been in place since 2013 and licences were renewed earlier this year for two sites in Dorset and two in Wiltshire.

Two new areas were approved in Oxfordshire and Wiltshire.

These licences allow for the culling of up to 6,674 badgers across all six sites.

The Badger Trust wants vaccination to be used to control TB in badgers.

View from the NFU

NFU president Tom Bradshaw said the recent peer-reviewed Birch Review, published in the journal Nature, had demonstrated that the herd incidence rate of TB reduced by 56% in areas where there had been four or more years of wildlife control.

“The NFU will continue to work with its members and government to ensure a successful strategy to eradicate bovine TB continues to be based on sound science and evidence,” he said.