AN ATTEMPT to stop a controversial badger cull failed yesterday.

Welsh Assembly members voted in favour of plans to trap and shoot badgers as part of a campaign to eradicate tuberculosis in cattle.

A five-year trial cull is planned by the Assembly's governing coalition in Pembrokeshire, where bovine TB is endemic.

It is due to start around April after boundaries for it are set, late enough in the year to avoid leaving young badgers without a mother.

Farmers, who blame badgers for spreading a disease that has devastated herds, have welcomed the move.

But the Badger Trust this week said it was seeking a judicial review of the decision.

A vote on whether to annul a ministerial order underpinning the cull was defeated nine votes to 43.

During a debate in Cardiff Bay, rural affairs minister Elin Jones said 12,000 cows were slaughtered last year because of TB, compared with 7,000 in 1997. The bill for compensating Wales's farmers has risen from £1.8 million to £24 million since 2000.

She added that other measures were planned to help rid Wales of bovine TB, including improvements in moving infected animals from farms.

She read out letters from opponents of the cull in the county and said there was evidence that intensive farming and bad animal husbandry caused disease.