In 2013 the Government began a much contested and controversial trial badger cull as a response to the threat posed by bovine TB to Britain's cattle. However, the trial failed to meet its targets and opened up new debates about the problem.
Now that a further cull is planned this year in Gloucestershire and Somerset, the Badger Trust has launched legal action against the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) over its failure to appoint an independent expert panel to oversee the culls.
Dominic Dyer, the Badger Trust's Chief Executive, said, "Defra have done all they can to prevent this judicial review case going to the High Court and have failed. Their refusal to put in place any independent monitoring of the badger culls due to take place in Gloucestershire and Somerset over the next few months against the advice of the Independent Expert Panel they set up is a national disgrace."
Meanwhile, the Sussex Badger Vaccination Project has started a programme of vaccinations for badgers, which offers farmers and landowners in East Sussex the chance to vaccinate badgers against TB.
Kate Edmunds, the project director, said, "Bovine tuberculosis is a huge problem for farmers and this is such a positive way forward in the fight against it. After doing some initial survey work earlier this year and working out the key target areas, we have been undertaking the pre-baiting by placing peanuts down, which helps us identify the best locations to trap and vaccinate on the land."
Whilst the Vaccination Project and other research suggests that culling badgers is not an effective way of reducing TB in cattle, others remain unconvinced.
