Betty set for Hollywood

Hello Hupeople! 

Today was a big day for Badgers and for me Betty Badger. I got on my first moving picture when Lee (and Simon from Change.org) came to DEFRA to hand in a petition about stopping the Badger Kill Cull.   Do you know that more than 200,000 lovely Hupeople took the time to sign the petition including my friend Vanessa? 

I hope I didn't upset Lee because the first thing I said to him was "You are very handsome....for a human".  Lee is an ecologist who loves wildlife, especially Bats and Badgers and he lives in Wales where they have decided not to kill Badgers for no good scientific reason but instead use vaccination.  Lee was very good at explaining how stupid the Kill Cull is. Here is our picture. 

And here is the link to the video film of me and Lee:

Betty and Lee with Badger Petition

The video makes it look as if it all went very easily but the Hupeople at DEFRA in Marsham Street wouldn't let Lee in with his petition even though Lee had told them he was coming. They were worried that he might have a bomb in his box so we opened it.  Here is a picture of me with the petition box bomb:

They wouldn't even let him hand in a memory stick with all the names on it in case it blew up the DEFRA computer system. In the end we went to the other DEFRA office in Smith Square where they are not as fussy.  We had hoped that Mr Gove or Mr Eustice would take our petition but, as usual, they were too busy- probably talking about The Brexit or scheming to kill Mrs May.

Mary had been very excited about meeting Lee and Simon and she even made me a new sign to put round my neck as the other one was very scruffy .  She didn't let me write the sign in case I got the spelling of "innocent" wrong again.

I met lots of my old DEFRA friends again so I am just sending them a message: 

"HELLO FANS AT DEFRA! Nice to see you!

It was very hot today again and it was a bit difficult for me and Mary to stand around for hours, but we know it is important for us to keep people talking about Badgers.  One interesting observation I made was that some of the the Humen cut off their leg coverings to keep cool.  That is all very well, but when  you are on the silver Tubeworm with Humen doing what is called Man-spreading then it can be very uncomfortable. A Human sitting next to Mary kept tickling her legs with his furry legs.  He had more fur than a Badger.

This is a picture of Man spreading I found on the internet:

Still, I suppose they have to do that to keep their spermatozoa cool enough to make Cubs.....

Outside DEFRA I met a senior Huwoman who works in the Home Office in an important and secret job. She was very elegant and kind and listened to my story.  I hope she is reading this and that she will talk to her important friends.  We all know that the Badger Kill Cull has become muddied by vested interests and politics.   Mary is waiting anxiously to hear about the Cull Zones for this autumn and how many of my Badger friends they intend to kill.  When they wipe us all out, they will probably start on the deer... who can also catch TB from Cows.  The last 3 important announcements were made on the days Parliament was going into recess (that means going on their holidays) .   "A good day to hide bad news".  

All this talk of killing Badgers is making me feel sad so here is a picture from the internet of a happy healthy Badger

I still haven't heard from Mr Eustice about my appointment with him.  Mary did get a letter this week from DEFRA using all the old false arguments to justify the Kill Cull. Such as the Irish experience. In fact the reason the number of TB cases reduced that time in Ireland was because of an outbreak of Foot and Mouth and Cattle movements were stopped, so Cows were not being moved from Farm to Farm spreading disease.  The letter went on about the difficulty in making a vaccine for cows.  They cannot have very good scientists working for them as they have been trying to make a vaccine for around ten years and still haven't worked out how to do it.  Here are some scientists who look quite clever; perhaps DEFRA might give them a call:

The letter from The Correspondence Team at DEFRA also talked about its review of its Bovine TB Strategy by Sir Charles Godfray.  Thinking that Mary would be impressed by this, they forgot that she knows that the Review by Sir Godfray does NOT include a review of the Badger KiIl Cull.  Here is a picture of Charles Godfray:

He does look like quite a sensible man but if his terms of reference don't include the question of Killing Badgers then I don't suppose he will be of much help to us.  I wonder why he is a Sir?  Perhaps because he is so clever and wise.  I wonder if they might make Mary or me a Sir one day, for being Doggedly persistent.  I doubt it...  because we are not part of The Establishment- or a celebrity.  Oh Well.

Time to cuddle up with my Cubs and give them some love and attention.  They were so excited to be filmed; did you see them on the video? We are hoping that one day we will be on the Big Screen and be huge; that might make Politicians and Civil Servants be nicer to us.

Night Night,🐾🐾🐾

Betty 

Mr Gove's Nemesis

Hello Fans, Betty Badger Here!

After my exciting visit to Woman's Hour I returned to DEFRA next day and was thrilled to find that Hupeople had heard me talking on the radio.  Some lovely Hupeople called Annie, Dave and John came to visit to tell me that they had heard me on the wireless and I had inspired them to work to get the Badger Kill Cull stopped.  So Betty Badger DID touch some Hupeople's hearts.  Another Human came visiting too after hearing me and wished me luck. This is the picture the BBC took of Mary.  It is VERY flattering:

A DEFRA Human came to chat and told me that he had a plant based diet (like me- except for the worms and bees and a very odd hedgehog) and he thought that the DEFRA policy was insane and utterly immoral.  Well, we all know that.

As a result of all the excitement after Woman's Hour I decided to ride the wave of enthusiasm and I began by writing to Tena for sponsorship for a big surprise I am planning for DEFRA.  It's a secret....Thay have passed my request to their Marketing Department so fingers crossed.

I also wrote to The Daily Mail and the PM programme to see if they would like to feature the Intrepid Betty Badger.  My headline was going to be "Betty Badger- Michael Gove's Nemesis". I wasn't really sure what a Nemesis was but Mary found it for me and says it means "The inescapable agent of someone's downfall".  That sounds just right.  If Mr Gove does not have the courage to stop the unscientific, cruel and expensive Badger Kill Cull then I want to be his Nemesis.  

I didn't get a reply from The Daily Mail.  Perhaps that might have something to do with the fact that Mr Gove's Mate Sarah Vine is a journalist there. Here is a picture of Mr Gove and his Mate Sarah Vine and their Dog:

I went back to DEFRA again today and I met Dominic Dyer of The Badger Trust along with a Human from the Born Free Foundation.  They were going in to a meeting about Wildlife Crime.  The security Human wouldn't let the third Human in because he had his bicycle with  him so I looked after it for him so he could go into the meeting.  So Badgers have their uses- other than for shaving brushes..  

I thought about riding the bike as I would probably be the first Badger ever to ride a bicycle but it was one of those clever Brompton bikes which folds up really small and I couldn't work out how to make it grow.

Today a was very very hot for a Badger as we have such thick hair and an Angel saved my life bringing me a bottle of cool water which was the best drink I have ever had.   It came from a highland Spring.

Mary tells me that I might be valuable.  Apparently in the next Kill Cull Mr Gove will pay people £50 for each Badger they kill.  So that is the price on my babies' heads- oh, and mine.  I did read that some wicked Humen will pay up to £700 for a live Badger so they can do Badger Baiting, which is putting a Badger in a ring with Dogs and getting them to fight to the death.  That would be a dreadful way to be killed.  Mary has a video here which she took one night which shows that we can be very brave when attacked by  Dogs....

All those young Foxes are dead now, killed by the local gamekeeper in the last couple of weeks.  That is sad because we were becoming the best of friends. 

We still haven't heard about our appointment with Mr Eustice who is a Minister of State at DEFRA.  Mary thinks he hasn't replied because I made a mistake and called him Mr Useless.  I am sorry if that upset him.... but I bet that's what they called him at school.

This week a very brave Human called Tom Langton is taking the Government to Court over the Badger Kill Cull. Apparently a court is a big old building full of wise old Hueople who make decisions which can profoundly affect the lives of Hupeople (and Badgers this week).  This is Tom Langton:

I do hope he manages to stop the Killing.  If  you believe in a God or Goddess then please pray for his success.  I might go there on Thursday once I have finished being interviewed by 38 Degrees outside DEFRA.  Betty is such a Busy Badger...

Time to get the Cubs up and the sett cleared out  and new hay collected.  Although lots of Animals are really struggling with no rain, at least we have lots of fresh hay to make our setts sweet smelling and dry.  Please put out some water for the Birds and Animals and save some lives.

Night Night .  

Betty Badger 🐾🐾🐾