Betty Badger here..... but not for much longer. As the Badger Trust said "This afternoon Mr Gove approved the largest destruction of a protected species in living memory!."
Today Mr Gove approved the Kill-Culling of Badgers in 31 areas of the countryside starting NOW, They want 41,000 badgers to be slaughtered. That is more than were killed in the last 5 years. It makes no sense as most of the scientists and veterinarians agree. Badgers are NOT responsible for the spread of bovine TB; farmers are, by moving their Cows around the country and spreading infected Poo on the fields.
Mary is very upset and I am very, very frightened that my family will all be shot and injured and suffer and die.
Mr Gove is a cruel man. He wants to keep the powerful landowning farmers happy by killing innocent creatures. Most farmers hate Badgers. He has other options but they are not as easy as killing innocent Creatures.
Well Mr Gove, I have asked you to meet with me and Mary for tea at the Conservatory Party Conference in a couple of weeks time. I bet that you are just too much of a coward to do that. See you in Birmingham Michael. I wish I had TB then I would bite you and infect you. But, as you well know, fewer than 4% of the 20,000 Badgers you killed last year had TB, so It is not very likely that I have the disease.
Mary tells me that I must stop writing now because I might say something I will regret. She asked me to tell her friends that the scab that grew when she took her tumble two weeks ago came off today- (I ate it!) Also, the Pimlico dog is well and his Human companion is looking better than usual. Mary went back today to Smith Square to see some of her old DEFRA friends and they were very pleased to see her. And she had a surprise visitor..... I will tell you about all these things if I stay alive for long enough...
But, for now, I leave you with the Badger Trust's announcement today:
Michael Gove approves the largest destruction of a protected species in living memory
The Badger Trust has condemned the decision by the Defra Secretary of State Michael Gove to approve 11 new badger cull licences in England in 2018, bringing the total in operation to 31.
As a result of this major expansion of badger cull, 40,892 badgers could be killed by the end of 2018, more than during the last 5 years of the badger cull combined.
Despite a huge increase in the number of badgers to be killed, the Government has yet to provide any reliable evidence that badger culling is having any significant impact on lowering bovine TB in cattle in or around the cull zones.
With no effective independent monitoring of cull contractors, the Badger Trust is also increasingly concerned that badgers will die long painful deaths due to the continued use of controlled shooting, a culling method which is condemned as inhumane by the British Veterinary Association.
The Badger Trust has already raised serious animal welfare concerns with Natural England over the trapping of badgers for up to 12 hours in cages in the heat wave in Gloucestershire and Somerset, under existing supplementary cull licences which have been operation since June.
Responding to the announcement of the new badger cull licences the CEO of the Badger Trust Dominic Dyer said,
“Despite the Met Office confirming that Britain experiencing the most extreme heat wave on record during June, July and August, which has decimated badger populations across Britain, the Defra Secretary of State Michael Gove has today given the green light to the largest destruction of badgers in living memory.
By approving 11 new badger cull licences which now brings the number in England to 31, over 40,000 more badgers could be killed this autumn bringing the total killed since 2013 to over 75,000. This could mean that more badgers are killed in the next few months then the last 5 years combined. The 11 licenses have expanded cull zones in Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire and Somerset. The cull has also been newly expanded into the areas of Staffordshire and Cumbria.
By 2020 over 150,000 badgers are likely to have been killed as a result of the cull policy, pushing this protected species to verge of extinction in parts of Britain which it has inhabited since the Ice Age. With the public costs of the badger cull now estimated to be well over £50 million and rising fast, the Government has yet to provide any reliable evidence to show the mass destruction of badgers is having any significant impact on lowering bovine TB in or around the cull zones.
Under the cull policy cage trapping and shooting badgers is currently costing the tax payer over £1,000 per badger. However, badger vaccination teams across Britain are now trapping and vaccinating badgers against TB for less than £200 per badger, less than a fifth of the cost of culling.
If the government really wishes to reduce the spread of TB in badgers, it should bring an immediate halt to the cruel, ineffective and hugely costly badger cull and introduce a publicly funded national badger vaccination programme.
A national badger vaccination programmes combined with improved TB testing for cattle, tighter bio security and cattle movement controls, will far more effectively reduce the spread of Bovine TB in cattle and badgers.
This is a far better outcome for farmers, tax payers and for the future survival of badgers.
The Badger Trust
How to go on when there seems to be no hope.
ReplyDeleteWe are close witness to the inhuman killing of defenceless creatures. It goes on in our midst like a war, except that most people are able to ignore the killing and go on comfortably with their lives.
It is comparable to ethnic cleansing, in that the aim of this war is the virtual destruction of a species. This war is not founded on reason or fact, any more than the massacres in the Yugoslavian civil war or Rwanda were founded on reason or fact. Only 4% of the Badgers killed in recent months were found to be infected by bTB. All the scientific evidence points to the movement of cattle around the country as the likely cause for the spread of bTB among cattle.
What can one do?
One has to find courage to go on when there seems to be no hope.
The government agencies use violence to achieve their ends. Insofar as they do this they abdicate their humanity.
All war is an abdication of humanity. It is not possible to wage war without innocent people being killed.
In this case an innocent species is the target.
To sit back and do nothing is to passively assent to what the government agencies are doing.
One can work inwardly. Meditation and mindfulness bring peace to the world. One can pray.
Non-Violent Direct Action is another thing that can be done. When done properly it never involves anything illegal nor does it harm any living person or creature, it merely obstructs them. But it needs courage, imagination and commitment.
Compassionate people will think of many ingenious ways to disturb and disrupt this mass-killing. They have already been doing this in some parts of the country.
The Greenham Common women hung baby-clothes on the wire fences around the nuclear weapon base. It drew the attention of the world’s media. In the end the Cruise missiles were taken away.
WARRIORS FILLED WITH LOVE
ReplyDeletewarriors filled with love watch while others sleep
watch through darkness, storms and mists,
courage is their watchword
and when life forms a new possibility
they seize the moment,
courage glowing like an ember in their souls
when the sick in soul lose their power
when evil loses its grip
then life and love flourish again
like a great sea of courage
emerging
when it seems there is no hope,
stay steadfast in your heart
keep it tuned to love.
courage can be your watchword
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badgers criss-crossing roads, fields and forests
hedges no barrier
- creating their own byways
following their own star
the Ground of all Being
active in badger's limbs
Cosmic Life
pulsing in badger's breath
Cosmic Wisdom
Incarnate.