High Court judge rejects plans for Northern Ireland badger cull

A decision to allow badger culling in Northern Ireland as part of efforts to tackle bovine TB was unlawful, a High Court judge has ruled.

In July 2021, the then NI farming minister Edwin Poots held a public consultation to implement badger culling in areas where there are high levels of TB infection in herds.

Then in March 2022, Mr Poots announced that the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) had approved the plans as part of a refreshed strategy to tackle bovine TB.

See also: Northern Ireland cattle farmers rue the mounting cost of bovine TB

Animal rights groups Wild Justice and the NI Badger Group launched a legal challenge against the plans, which would have seen up to 4,000 free-roaming badgers shot by farmer-led groups each year.

In a judgment handed down at the High Court in Belfast on Wednesday, Mr Justice Scoffield ruled that Daera’s consultation was so fundamentally flawed that it was unlawful.

Mr Scoffield said Daera “failed to comply with the requirements of a fair and lawful consultation by failing to provide consultees with sufficient information about the basis for its proposed decision to permit them…to engage meaningfully with the department’s thinking”.

As a result, Daera will have to pay £35,000 in legal fees to the groups who brought the legal challenge.

Plans for the cull were placed on hold since the collapse of the Northern Ireland Executive in February 2022.

The judge’s ruling means Daera will have to rethink its policy and hold a lawful consultation if it wants to press ahead with badger culling in NI.

Wild Justice has indicated it will launch further legal challenges against any future plans for badger culling in the province.

‘Major blow’ – UFU 

The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) said the ruling was a “major blow for our livestock farmers”.

UFU president David Brown said: “Farm families have been on their knees due to this disease for generations, and they are desperate for a successful strategy that will tackle TB in all its hosts ensuring healthy cattle and healthy wildlife.”

The UFU said its fundraising efforts from beef and dairy levies for farmer-led culls would be put on hold for the time being. It urged Daera to learn the lessons from the outcome and the judge’s comments before it resubmits any new proposal.