Wild Justice & Badger Trust set to challenge supplementary Badger cull

Wild Justice and our friends at the Badger Trust have joined forces to send a formal legal letter to Natural England about its decision in May 2024 to grant nine new Supplementary Badger Cull licences and to authorise 17 existing licenses, which was contrary to the scientific advice of Natural England’s own Director of Science, Dr Peter Brotherton.

According to documents seen by Wild Justice and the Badger Trust, Dr Brotherton had advised Natural England that he’d found “no justification for authorising further supplementary Badger culls in 2024 for the purpose of preventing the spread of disease and recommend[ed] against doing so“. It appears Dr Brotherton’s expert advice was overridden in favour of not upsetting the farming industry.

Wild Justice and the Badger Trust have sent a formal Pre-action Protocol Letter to Natural England which argues that we think Natural England’s decision was unlawful. This letter provides Natural England with an opportunity to respond to our allegations by 15 July 2024 and if we consider the response to be unsatisfactory we may consider launching a request for a formal Judicial Review.

Here is a copy of our Pre-Action Protocol letter sent to Natural England yesterday:

This will be a matter with which Natural England will have to deal and, most likely, answer to a different Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, after this week’s general election. This could be our first legal challenge (in this case jointly with the Badger Trust) involving a new government if it progresses. We’ll await Natural England’s response with interest. The Defra Secretary of State, whoever it might be, is named as an Interested Party in the letter.