CAMPAIGNERS have lost the latest round of their legal battle over the culling of badgers in the South West.

They accused the Government at the Court of Appeal of acting unlawfully by allowing the latest badger culls to go ahead without an independent expert panel (IEP) to monitor whether the animals are being killed in a humane way.

The Badger Trust asked three judges at a recent hearing in London to rule that there was a "legitimate expectation" that an IEP would be put in place.

But, in a decision announced, Lord Justice Davis, Lord Justice Christopher Clarke and Lord Justice Bean dismissed their case.

The challenge arose from a decision to sanction a second year of "controlled shooting" of free-roaming badgers in Gloucestershire and Somerset as part of efforts to tackle tuberculosis in cattle The Government and farmers insist culling is necessary to tackle TB in livestock.

The Government says the disease led to the slaughter of more than 26,000 cattle in England last year and multimillion-pound losses.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is using the two pilot schemes in the West Country to test whether the shooting method can be rolled out to other parts of England.

Opponents say culling is inhumane and ineffective and alternatives such as vaccination should be pursued. Defra says this year's programme will be independently audited.

Last year, the first year of the four-year pilot programme, an IEP reported that controlled shooting could not deliver the level of culling needed to bring about a reduction in bovine TB and was not humane.

Defra decided to continue the programme this year without an IEP in place.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss was accused of breaching a substantive legitimate expectation that an IEP would monitor the entire pilot cull.

Mr Justice Kenneth Parker previously ruled at London's High Court that there were "no plausible grounds" to support the claim.

The Badger Trust had asked the three appeal judges to rule that the judge went wrong in law and a legitimate expectation had been made out.

After the latest ruling, the trust said it was "disappointed" by the Court of Appeal's decision "against ensuring an independent referee", and called "on the Secretary of State not to once more move the goalposts".

Financial director Jeff Hayden said in a statement: "The current Secretary of State rightly has not jumped, as her predecessor did, to a premature conclusion regarding the result of the second year of the culls.

"However, if the leaked figures regarding effectiveness are correct, then contrary to the suggestions of the National Farmers' Union, she cannot yet again move the goalposts, particularly when she has refused to have an independent referee.

"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."

Wendy Higgins, of the Humane Society International/UK, said the High Court ruling "is regrettable but it doesn't in any way change the fact that culling badgers in an effort to control cattle TB has been thoroughly and robustly discredited and rejected by the overwhelming majority of scientists and wildlife disease experts.

"This challenge was about one aspect of the cull only - that the Government totally abandoned independent oversight to monitor the humaneness or otherwise of the killing.

"The judges' decision about that one issue doesn't alter the fact that the badger cull is an abuse of animal welfare and without scientific foundation."

A Defra spokesman 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.

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