Judgment is due today (Friday) on a legal challenge to the Welsh Assembly's proposed badger cull in north Pembrokeshire.

The Badger Trust's legal challenge to the controversial badger cull was heard by Mr Justice Lloyd-Jones at Swansea High Court last month.

The animal charity challenged the Welsh Assembly Government's (WAG) decision to cull badgers in north Pembrokeshire, as well as small parts of neighbouring Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, in an attempt to stop the spread of bovine TB.

The assembly rubber stamped the cull in January.

Over a five year period, badgers in a 180 square mile area will be trapped and shot in an attempt to to reduce the badger population "as far as we can".

The cull will be accompanied by stricter control measures, including more testing for farmers who frequently move cattle in and out of the zone.

Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones said that bovine TB was "out of control and unsustainable" and in 2009 had cost the taxpayer nearly £24million in compensating farmers.

The Badger Trust maintains the cull is unlawful and senseless. They challenged the legality of the TB Eradication (Wales) Order 2009 of the Welsh Assembly Government and made a separate formal complaint under the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats.

Speaking during the judicial review David Williams, Chairman of the Badger Trust, said: “It is with some reluctance but nevertheless firm resolve that we must, as an organisation dedicated to the welfare and protection of the badger, enter into these proceedings at the highest level.

"The decision is unjust and goes against the scientific evidence, and the law affords us this opportunity of challenging the legality of the WAG’s intention to kill badgers,and we are now taking it”.