Government adviser Natural England has been accused of intimidating both the Badger Trust and Wild Justice as both charities take legal action against the badger cull.
Back in May, Natural England approved yet more badger cull licences. It granted nine new Supplementary Badger Control licences and authorised 17 existing licences in 2024 – which were operational from 1 June. By doing so, Natural England went against the advice of its own Head of Science, Dr Peter Brotherton. He had advised the body that the cull should be halted, saying:
“…based on the evidence, I can find no justification for authorising further supplementary badger culls in 2024 for the purpose of preventing the spread of disease and recommend against doing so”.
Both Natural England’s chair, Tony Juniper, and Marian Spain, CEO, overruled this crucial advice to appease the farming lobby. And so the two charities have taken a legal challenge against the body and Defra.
Bullying tactics
To try to prevent them from seeing the case to its conclusion, Natural England has applied to the court to force the Badger Trust to pay £30,000, and Wild Justice £20,000, which would be payable if the charities’ legal challenge fails. Under the UNECE Aarhus Convention, which the UK is party to, the costs are limited to £10,000 per claimant.
Both organisations have made legal arguments to the court, stating that the cap should not be raised.
Wild Justice said to its followers:
“We thought you should know that the state nature conservation body is taking this approach and is rather keen on getting our money (all of which is your money originally). We’d like to see how NE would manage if it had to raise its own funds like we do rather than having an income of over £350m gifted to them by the taxpayer (that’s you too).”
Natural England is ‘not fit for purpose’
Peter Hambly, Chief Executive of Badger Trust, said:
“We are shocked that Natural England – a body supposed to conserve nature – is trying to intimidate us from taking legal action to protect nature. This is against the purpose of the Aarhus Convention and the way they are disregarding international agreements to continue with the ineffective slaughter of badgers shows how desperate they are to back a failed policy. Badgers are not the issue – cattle to cattle transmission is the overwhelming cause of bTB spread. If Natural England (and Defra) addressed this properly they would not be trying to subvert agreements like this. I think it is clear that Natural England is simply not fit for purpose.”
As the government’s adviser for England’s natural environment, the body should be acting as guardians of badgers, who are supposedly one of our most protected species. Yet it unashamedly puts the farming lobby over the lives of wildlife, and attempts to silence the charities who challenge it. In a previous article, Protect the Wild outlined how Natural England’s Tony Juniper is actually overseeing the devastation of England’s biodiversity.
The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. Natural England has a duty, therefore, to protect biodiversity, but it is uninterested in carrying out the very job it is designated to do. The Badger Trust says:
“Killing 230,000 native badgers—half the estimated population—is at the very heart of this unnecessary attack on nature.”
As for Labour, it has stated that it will end the cull – BUT not before‘the end of a first term’, which could be in 2029.
Attacking both the Badger Trust and Wild Justice will only make Natural England – and therefore Defra by extension – more enemies, while Labour will lose the support it gained in the run up to the election. Meanwhile, the two charities will receive greater public support as they battle for the lives of England’s iconic species – which are being culled across the country as you finish reading this article.
