Badger Trust loses appeal against badger cull
The Badger Trust has lost its appeal to stop a badger cull in England, Farmers Weekly can reveal.
The trust’s bid to prevent a cull going ahead in England failed at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday (11 September).
Badger Trust spokesman Jack Reedy said the trust was “disappointed” by the ruling and would decide later whether it would pursue any other way to appeal.
The trust had appealed against Mr Justice Ouseley’s decision in July to uphold government plans for two pilot culls, one in west Gloucestershire and another in west Somerset, as part of a bovine tuberculosis eradication programme.
The trust had argued that issuing licences to kill badgers would increase, rather than reduce bovine TB.
A spokesman for DEFRA said: “No one wants to cull badgers but last year bovine TB led to the slaughter of over 26,000 cattle, and to help eradicate the disease it needs to be tackled in badgers.”
More to follow….
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