English badgers in the firing line

The fate of badgers in the west of England hangs in the balance as environment secretary Caroline Spelman prepares to make an announcement on a possible cull.

Minutes of a meeting between Defra scientific advisers and top university professors, including Lord Krebs, were released by the department earlier this week. They concluded that the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT) between 1997 and 2007 produced an 'overall beneficial effect'.

However, the scientists said that the more that a culling policy deviated from the conditions of the RBCT, for example by allowing free shooting of badgers as well as cage trapping, the more the results would differ.

The scientists said that if the culling was not carried out in a 'co-ordinated, sustained and simultaneous manner according to minimum criteria' then it could result in a smaller benefit or even a detrimental effect on the incidence of bovine TB.

A spokeswoman for Defra said the announcement could be made by the environment secretary as early as next week.

Gwendolen Morgan, solicitor in the public law team at Bindman & Partners, said she would be studying it very closely on behalf of her clients, the Badger Trust, and did not rule out launching a judicial review.

She said there were 'no surprises' in the minutes of the meeting with scientific advisers and any response to the announcement would depend on its reasoning and how the scheme was implemented in practice, though there were 'massive' obstacles to be overcome.

Meanwhile Morgan said the new Welsh government promised at the end of last month to hold an independent review of the scientific evidence before making any decisions on culls.

The previous regime in Cardiff, a coalition between Plaid Cymru and Labour, had to postpone plans for a badger cull in west Wales after they were successfully challenged by the Badger Trust at the Court of Appeal (see solicitorsjournal.com, 14 July 2010).

Morgan said she had prepared bundles for a fresh judicial review of the revised plans when the Welsh Assembly elections in May produced a minority Labour administration.

'We cannot predict the outcome but we are pleased the new government is taking the chance to reconsider the evidence in the light of the fact that TB in Wales is going down.'