News & Reports
bovine TB
Badger Trust loses its legal appeal against the badger culls THE Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal by the Badger Trust against an earlier High Court decision to reject its challenge against the pilot badger culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire (VR, September 6, 2014, vol 175, p 211). The trust originally challenged the culls on the basis that the Secretary of State at Defra had failed to put in place an independent expert panel (IEP) to oversee them. It claimed that the Secretary of State had promised that an IEP would oversee the monitoring and analysis of the results of the culls while there was a possibility that culling could be rolled out over a wider area (VR, July 12, 2014, vol 175, p 35). This challenge was rejected by the High Court in August, but the trust was granted leave to appeal in September, when Lord Justice Maurice Kay ruled that the trust’s arguments had a prospect of success at 442 | Veterinary Record | November 8, 2014
appeal (VR, September 20, 2014, vol 175, p 264). However, in their judgement on October 29, three judges agreed that the appeal should be rejected. Lord Justice Christopher Clarke commented that it did not seem to him that there had been ‘any clear, unambiguous and unqualified representation or promise that the IEP would be kept in place after the first year’ or that there would be ‘no roll out without its imprimatur or at least without receipt of its advice’. He added that all comments made seemed to be ‘concerned with the position at the end of the first year and devoid of assurance, certainly any unqualified assurance, as to the position of the IEP in subsequent years if there was no roll out at the end of the first’. In a statement on October 29, the Badger Trust said that it was disappointed
but that it respected the decision of the Court of Appeal as a matter of law. However, ‘as a matter of policy’, it called on the Secretary of State to confirm that there would be no wider roll out of the culls ‘given the failure of the pilot culls’. Jeff Hayden, the trust’s financial director, commented: ‘If the second year of the pilots has not met the standards determined by the Secretary of State, she must acknowledge that the pilots are a failure and culling cannot be rolled out more widely. Instead, Defra should commit to rigorous cattle control measures as employed in Wales where a reduction of 48 per cent in bovine TB has been achieved during the last five years. The small threat from badgers should be dealt with by vaccination rather than inhumane and ineffective slaughter.’ doi: 10.1136/vr.g6655
bovine TB
Badger Trust loses its legal appeal against the badger culls THE Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal by the Badger Trust against an earlier High Court decision to reject its challenge against the pilot badger culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire (VR, September 6, 2014, vol 175, p 211). The trust originally challenged the culls on the basis that the Secretary of State at Defra had failed to put in place an independent expert panel (IEP) to oversee them. It claimed that the Secretary of State had promised that an IEP would oversee the monitoring and analysis of the results of the culls while there was a possibility that culling could be rolled out over a wider area (VR, July 12, 2014, vol 175, p 35). This challenge was rejected by the High Court in August, but the trust was granted leave to appeal in September, when Lord Justice Maurice Kay ruled that the trust’s arguments had a prospect of success at 442 | Veterinary Record | November 8, 2014
appeal (VR, September 20, 2014, vol 175, p 264). However, in their judgement on October 29, three judges agreed that the appeal should be rejected. Lord Justice Christopher Clarke commented that it did not seem to him that there had been ‘any clear, unambiguous and unqualified representation or promise that the IEP would be kept in place after the first year’ or that there would be ‘no roll out without its imprimatur or at least without receipt of its advice’. He added that all comments made seemed to be ‘concerned with the position at the end of the first year and devoid of assurance, certainly any unqualified assurance, as to the position of the IEP in subsequent years if there was no roll out at the end of the first’. In a statement on October 29, the Badger Trust said that it was disappointed
but that it respected the decision of the Court of Appeal as a matter of law. However, ‘as a matter of policy’, it called on the Secretary of State to confirm that there would be no wider roll out of the culls ‘given the failure of the pilot culls’. Jeff Hayden, the trust’s financial director, commented: ‘If the second year of the pilots has not met the standards determined by the Secretary of State, she must acknowledge that the pilots are a failure and culling cannot be rolled out more widely. Instead, Defra should commit to rigorous cattle control measures as employed in Wales where a reduction of 48 per cent in bovine TB has been achieved during the last five years. The small threat from badgers should be dealt with by vaccination rather than inhumane and ineffective slaughter.’ doi: 10.1136/vr.g6655
