Badger campaigners lose high court battle to limit cull

Wildlife campaigner Tom Langton claims the culls themselves risk making bovine TB epidemic worse

Badger culling will be extended across England on an open-ended basis, conservationists have warned, after the high court rejected a challenge to the legality of the government's policy.

Licences to allow badger culling to continue in particular areas beyond a four-year period are legal, ruled Mr Justice Cranston, rejecting a challenge brought by the independent ecologist Tom Langton.