A PROTEST group is calling for the planned culling of badgers in West Wales to be postponed following the recent Assembly elections.

Pembrokeshire Against the Cull (PAC) has asked First Minister Carwyn Jones to halt the cull in a pilot area of north Pembrokeshire and surrounding Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion while a pending judicial review takes place.

The five-year cull programme, approved when AM Elin Jones was Rural Affairs Minister, is expected to start on or after May 31.

A judicial review is being sought by solicitors on behalf of Badger Trust.

The trust has also asked to meet Mr Jones to discuss whether a legal challenge to the order would be necessary, adding: "In our opinion it would be preferable to work with your government to discuss alternative methods of controlling bovine TB". Before the recent election the solicitors acting for Badger Trust wrote to the Assembly Government Legal Services Department setting out its intention to issue judicial review proceedings to challenge the Order in the absence of confirmation that it would be revoked.

The Badger Trust's earlier challenge to a previous bTB eradication order was successful and badger culling was abandoned.

Pat Hayden, vice-chairman of the trust, said: "If the previous Assembly Government had remained in power we would not have hesitated to proceed because Ministers had indicated the cull would begin after May 31 — although they refuse to confirm the start date. However, Labour's election manifesto has promised 'a science-led approach to evaluate and review the best way of tackling bTB'."

Mid and West Wales AM Joyce Watson has also called for the cull decision to be revisited, citing a reduction in bTB levels on improved cattle and disease control management.

She has written to new ministers Alun Davies, the Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and European Programmes and John Griffiths, the Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development setting out the case to tackle bovine TB without resorting to a badger cull.