THE Badger Trust has lost a legal fight to persuade judges that the Government acted unlawfully by not using an Independent Expert Panel to monitor the latest round of badger culls.

The six-week pilot culls in West Somerset and Gloucestershire ended on October 13.

The Trust had taken its case to the Court of Appeal, but a panel of judges last week ruled in favour of the Government.

A spokesperson for DEFRA said: “We are pleased that the Court of Appeal has found in our favour.

“As we have always been clear, the Independent Expert Panel’s role was to oversee the six-week pilots in the first year of the culls only."

The pilot culls are being carried out to help tackle bovine TB in cattle in England; 26,000 TB-infected cattle were slaughtered last year. The DEFRA spokesman added:

“We have a comprehensive strategy to make England TBfree, including strict cattle movement controls and badger vaccination, but overseas experience shows we will not beat the disease without also culling badgers where the disease is rife.”

The Court of Appeal verdict comes amid speculation that the latest culls did not meet targets. Marksmen had targets of killing a minimum of 316 badgers in Somerset and 615 in Gloucestershire.

DEFRA is yet to confirm the total number of badgers killed, but Environment Secretary Liz Truss had previously said the results of this year’s cull would determine if they are rolled out nationwide.

Jeff Hayden, financial director at the Badger Trust and the lead on the Judicial Review challenge, said: “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% 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.”