Betty Badger is Back- Again!

Some of you might have been wondering if Betty Badger had been killed by the Humen with the flash-bang sticks in the  Badger Cull, but I am OK.  Lots of things have stopped me from writing my Badger Log.  The first is the cold weather because we badgers get very sleepy when it is cold and curl up in our setts.  Here is a picture of my three cubs when they have just woken up*

Then there was the Microsoft Monster that killed my Human friend Bob's Computer with their huge Upgrade, which I think is some sort of disease. It has taken one and a half moons to fix it.  A kind man called Shailendra from  Microsoft rang Bob on the Telephone for 4 hours every day for a week and eventually fixed the Computer so Bob is happy now.  But Bob has stopped being so active and is spending ll his time sitting down looking at his Computer claiming to be talking to his friends.  I think it is an odd way to talk to friends with your fingers while staring at a bright light.  When I talk to my Badger friends I like to see them and smell them-especially smell them so I can tell how they are.

Although I have been quiet I have also been busy.  Last Thursday I went back to DEFRA to see my friends.  So many DEFRA Hupeople said how good it was to see me back and one of them said how he admired me for my determination.  I am not sure what "determination" means but I don't think it is anything to do with my looks.  I hope I still have it.

I didn't see Mr Gove on Thursday,probably because he was hiding after he and his friends voted in Parliament to say that Animals, including Badgers I suppose, are not sentient and don't have feelings.  Isn't that silly!?  You all know how worried I was when my cub Byrony was captured by the evil Humans in a cage and how I cried with joy when the kind Badger Lovers saved her.  And you know how sad I have been over the killing of my mate Brian.  And that vote was only a week after Scientists proved that Sheep recognise their friends.  We would be pretty stupid Animals if we couldn't recognise our friends, and I don't think Brian would have been too happy if I had mated with another Badger because I thought it was Brian.  What a strange world that would be.  Although Bob did say that Humen and Huwomen sometimes forget who their mates are.....

It is very cold indeed tonight so I will now curl up in my underground home that is all snug and filled with lovely straw that smells of summer.  I won't leave it so long again before I write my BLog  again.  I want to tell you all about the Deer and the other Animals that I meet at night.

Before I go, Bob is just adding on to the end of my words a letter that his friend Mary wrote to Mr Gove today.  I think she is a Badger Lover too as she seems very angry with him.

Night Night.  Betty Badger  🐾🐾

Mary's Letter:

Dear Mr Gove,

I was extremely disappointed by being dismissed with a superficial and disingenuous reply to my request for an appointment with you to discuss the science of the badger cull. 

I do appreciate that you are busy with the machinations of state and I wasn’t convinced that you would grant my request but I really think that you should get someone else to advise you about the badger cull and to write your letters.

Your letter insulted my intelligence and that of the wider British public.  I know that you have met recently the very knowledgeable representatives of the Badger Trust and that they have shared with you an alternative strategy for dealing with bTB based on a better testing regime.  I have been in communication with some of the country’s leading experts on bTB including Lord Krebs as well as leading badger experts Dr Richard Mayer and Michael Clark all of whom agree that killing badgers will not make any real difference to the incidence of bTB.  Your letter states that “other leading vets” agree with the policy.  Most leading vets do not, nor does the former government advisor Timothy Coulson.  To quote his words on the continuation of the badger cull he describes it as “an abuse” of the scientific process and “wilfully” ignoring the advice of its own scientists.  “In a strongly worded attack, Professor Timothy Coulson, a member of the Independent Expert Panel (IEP) which was tasked by the Government to advise it on pilot culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire, said: "I am tempted to speculate that the Government no longer wants to know whether the pilots are effective or humane."”  I know also that a former senior veterinary expert of DEFRA has stated publicly that the cull cannot work in reducing bTB.

Mr Gove, your government aimed to kill over 33,500 badgers this autumn when there is no scientific justification for that action as part of the strategy for reducing the incidence of bovine TB.   It is clear that bovine TB has increased because of poor farming practices, including moving infected cattle and slurry spreading, and inadequate testing. 

Your letter mentioned the Irish experience.  That is a red herring. The figures, carefully utilised as justification, were based on the time after foot and mouth when bTB figured rocketed.  There is no causal link between the cull and the reduction on bTB in Ireland.  This is evidenced by the fact that bTB numbers also reduced in Norther Ireland where there was no cull.

The badger cull is unscientific, inhumane and shameful.  I know that you are an animal lover and an intelligent man. I simply cannot understand how you can allow this cruel and ineffective policy to continue at enormous  cost to the taxpayer.  

One of your parliamentary colleagues, who will remain nameless, told me that the government cannot end this cull policy because it will risk losing face.  I understand that completely.  But you do have options for a new strategy, as outlined by the Badger Trust, that does not involve a badger cull.  To announce a fresh new strategy would be courageous and publicly popular, particularly bearing in mind the recent scandal about voting against animal sentience.

I would appreciate it if you would consider this matter deeply and rationally.  So that the public, and Betty Badger, might agree that Michael Gove is, in fact, “a nice Human” "

(Picture of 3 Badgers taken from Campaign page of Stop Harlow North, fighting against a development that will damage badger setts).