I was a bit angry when I last wrote my BLog. I wanted to bite Mr Gove. But you may have noticed that Mr Gove has been absent from my life in recent months so I haven't had the chance. Remember how I used to see him every week outside DEFRA and he used to say hello? I think he is too ashamed to meet Betty Badger now since he has ordered the killing of 41,000 of my friends. Here is a picture of Mr Gove and a Badger:
I am really excited to be going up to the Conservatory Party Conference in Birmingham on Monday. I have asked to have tea with Mr Gove, but I don't think that has been arranged yet. Maybe it will be a last minute surprise. Mary's MP Grant Schnapps says he is looking forward to seeing us both.
In Birmingham I am going to meet a Huwoman called Lorraine who is a founder of the Conservatory Animal Welfare Foundation. She is very nice and has tried to convince me that some Tories like Badgers. This is her picture:
She is a friend of Zac Goldsmith, also a Conservatory who likes animals. Here he is:
Do you remember my nice red bag that Mary bought to carry me to Man Chester last Conference?
Well it has been to London Town every Thursday since then and got very holy and the final straw was when Mary tried to take her cat Rufus to the vet in it and he tore his way out. This is Rufus who is very fond of bubble wrap.
So we have been littering London with Mary's lunch including Bananas, and Peanut Butter and Marmite sandwiches. She has bought another red bag to look smart when we go to Birmingham- because we Badgers don't like change .....
The Badger Kill-Cull has started and Mary is crying every day when she reads the reports from her brave friends in the Kill Zones. Yesterday her friend sent her news that the rare white Badger had been shot. Here is a picture of a white Badger Mr Lumpy took :
Also, a friend found a dead Badger thrown into a field of sheep- so much for Biosecurity said Mary.
Some of you clever Hupeople might have heard of the Zoological Society of London, known to many as ZSL. Well, yesterday they produced a report critical of the Badger Kill-Cull and will be submitting it to DEFRA. But we can guess that they won't take any notice. Here is a link to the article:
Mary has been busy writing to DEFRA rebutting their Weasel words. She thought she was communicating with someone called Mr Comms with the initials T B then I pointed out to her that maybe she wasn't writing to Mr TB Comms but to a department called TB Communications. She felt a bit silly...
With a bit of help from her friends, particularly one called Unknown, Mary has a solution for getting rid of Cow TB. There is a TB vaccine for Cows but the EU said that Britain was not allowed to use it. If it did then they wouldn't be able to export Cows across the sea to Europe. I am not sure that Cows like to go all that way across the sea on ships from their families - I bet the Farmers didn't ask them. Anyway we know that all the new outbreaks of TB happen when Cows are moved out of the TB Zones to clear Zones and take TB with them- nothing to do with Badgers. All DEFRA needs to do is vaccinate all the Cows in the TB Zones and in the Edge Areas round them and not allow them to go anywhere, but stay at home on their farms. These Cows might have TB anyway because the test they use to see if they have the disease is only around 50% accurate. This is a Cow, or maybe a Bull; either way, we Badgers keep well away from their hooves:
They can also vaccinate the Badgers in those areas and there are volunteers who would be happy to do that. The Cows in the TB-free areas who are not vaccinated could still be sent away. They also have to improve that thing called Biosecurity and that includes not allowing those Bulls who travel around the country mating with Cows as they are probably spreading disease. Also they must stop hunting with hounds. 60% of the hounds of the Kimblewicik Hunt were infected with TB and were scampering around 6 counties spreading disease. Here are the Hunt Dogs:
Today I visited three DEFRAs- Nobel House, Staff entrance in Great Peter Street and Marsham Street. I had lots of waves and smiles and thumbs up in support of my little protest. Last week one of Mary's friends called Richard came by to see us after a Chamber Concert. Mary explained that wasn't a pot that you put under a bed to wee into - that's a chamber pot- but an event where Hupeople sit around listening to other Hupeople making a lot of noise with their mouths and lenghts of string tied to bits of wood or metal. The noisy people are known as Choirs and String orchestras. We Badgers can make a lot of noise too. Mary just found on the Google Oracle that we Badgers make 16 different sounds from Churrs and Purrs to Chitters and Keckers and Wails and Growls. See? We Badgers are clever.
Last weekend me and Mary went to The Hupeople's Walk for Wildlife in Hyde Park, organised by Chris Packham.
There were thousands and thousands of Hupeople there from little children to old Huwomen like Mary - it's her birthday on Saturday and she will be even older then. It was very wet and muddy but we were all inspired and happy to be together listening to famous singers and speakers including Billy Bragg and my mate Dominic Dyer who runs the Badger Trust. Everyone was sad to hear what we were doing to our Animals and our Land and Chris has produced a Manifesto to make everything better. Here is a link to Friends of The Earth with some pictures:
I have gone on a bit so had better stop now. Looking forward to telling you all about Birmingham.
Night Night, Betty 🐾🐾
