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Here is a timeline detailing the Welsh Government's announcement of a badger cull and reaction to it.

9 April 2008: The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) announces a "targetted cull" of badgers to combat tuberculosis (TB) in cattle

24 March 2009: Confirmation of a pilot badger cull to take place in an area focussed on north Pembrokeshire

21 October 2009: Powers to carry out the cull come into force although Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones says it will not begin before April 2010

2 November 2009: The Badger Trust confirms it is seeking a judicial review to stop the cull

4 November 2009: The assembly votes to reject a proposal by anti-cull AMs Lorraine Barrett and Peter Black to stop the process

13 January 2010: Welsh Assembly Government gives the final go-ahead for the cull, backed by opposition parties in the assembly

9 March 2010: 200 people join a protest at the Senedd organised by umbrella group Save the Badger

22 March 2010: Rock star Brian May joins the campaign against the cull

16 April 2010: The High Court rules that the cull order is lawful

18 May 2010: Three men are arrested in Pembrokeshire on suspicion of interfering with preparations for the cull - later released without charge

23 May 2010: Plans for a badger cull in Devon and Cornwall are revealed by the UK farming minister Jim Paice

9 June 2010: The Badger Trust is granted the right to appeal against the High Court ruling that the cull in west Wales is lawful

11 June 2010: Badger cull put on hold pending results of the appeal, WAG confirms

13 July 2010: The Court of Appeal quashes the badger cull order on the grounds that its terms applied to the whole of Wales when evidence from consultation only supported a cull in the intensive area - WAG declines to appeal to the Supreme Court

11 August 2010: The legal cost of the Welsh Assembly Government's fight to challenges to its planned badger cull pilot is revealed to be more than £57,000, including £20,000 towards the Badger Trust's costs

15 September 2010: The UK government unveils plans to licence farmers to shoot badgers as part of a cull in England

20 September 2010: Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones announces intention to reintroduce plans for a badger cull in north Pembrokeshire and parts of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire

1 December 2010: Research published by the Royal Society suggests vaccination could reduce the incidence of TB infection in wild badgers by 74%

16 December 2010: The assembly government retracts a claim in a leaflet that previous trials had shown such culls could reduce TB in cattle by as much as 50% in six months - it should have said culls could start to show a benefit after six months

9 March 2011: Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones reintroduces plans for a badger cull, with an order more tightly focussed to apply only to the intensive action area and not to the whole of Wales

23 March 2011: The assembly votes to press ahead with plans for a badger cull

20 April 2011: National Trust reveals plans to vaccinate badgers on an estate in Devon, the first UK landowner to propose such a policy

5 May 2011: Plaid Cymru ministers lose their jobs after the assembly election as Labour decides to govern alone

19 May 2011: UK farming minister Jim Paice says plans for a badger cull in England may not go ahead

21 June 2011: Welsh Environment Minister John Griffiths is due to make a statement on bovine TB policy