Badger Trust Appeals Cull
UK - The Badger Trust has applied to the High Court for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal against the rejection of its challenge to the legality of the Welsh Assembly Government’s (WAG) decision to kill badgers as one of its measures intended to eradicate bovine tuberculosis (bTB) from Wales.
10 May 2010
1 minute read
A court sitting in Swansea in March granted permission for a judicial review but refused to quash the Minister’s decision.
The Chairman of the Badger Trust, David Williams, said: “This case has raised matters of much wider public importance – in both legal and non-legal terms. The judgment in the judicial review could be interpreted as giving a green light to the killing of all sorts of wildlife across England and Wales on the flimsiest of evidence of any benefit in the form of disease prevention. Worryingly, the judgment explicitly rejects the Trust’s argument that before a cull can be lawful a balancing exercise needs to be carried out, which weighs up the harm posed to badgers (in this case) against the potential benefit in terms of disease reduction.
“As a registered charity we have a duty to work for the welfare of badgers for the public good. Consequently the Trust must do all it can to ensure that the legislation that is clearly intended to protect animals does so, and that any exceptions to prohibitions have to be rigorously tested.”
TheCattleSite News Desk
