Betty Hits the Bottle

Hello Fans! Betty here. Bottles feature today.  I hung around the big plastic bottle that landed outside DEFRA. It was very pretty and caused quite a stir.  You Hupeople can be quite clever at times. 

I liked the DEFRA bottle so much that Mary got me my own Badger sized bottle to hang around.  Here we are having fun with it:  

Another bottle that I want to mention is the one Mary drinks out of in the evening.  It is dark green and whatever it contains makes her jolly when she drinks it  She has given bottles up for Lent and has become a bit irritable.  Luckily her Lent isn't very long; in fact she calls it a Novena. Apparently that is a Roman Catholic tradition.  I have absolutely no idea what she is talking about but I am glad that it won't be long before she is jolly again.  Here is one of her bottles that she buys from a box on wheels called Ocado 

The March weather has made our DEFRA vigils difficult in March.  Last week we got wet and muddy; I hate having cold paws.   Our lives were saved by a lovely Human who brought us a steaming hot cup of green tea. There are some lovely kind Hupeople in the world. Mary gave us all a good wash and here are the cubs drying out on the radiator.

Do you remember last year how I used to meet a man in a really white shirt?  Well I met him again last week and he noticed how clean I was.... We had a nice chat about Mr Gove.  He said that Gove probably really likes Badgers and is working behind the scenes to save us but he cannot be seen with me because it would damage his chances of becoming the Prime Minister.  You can imagine the headlines under of picture of Mr Gove and Betty. Perhaps we can be friends when he becomes Prime Minister.  Perhaps I am fooling myself, but I am very hopeful badger.  

This week we had a very hard time with the gales, so much so that Mary made us go home early. The problem was that our placards kept blowing away, even landing in the Home Office/DEFRA moat.  But even worse, my cubs kept flying off the DEFRA window sill and rolled down the road.  Mary counted then out and counted them back and we were lucky still to have seven at the end of the day.

The security men are always very friendly and call out "Hello Betty".  One of then told me that some naughty protesters turned the DEFRA/Home Office moat red by filling it with dye.  Apparently it was expensive to fix so everyone was angry.  I said they are cruel to wildlife because they put bleach into the  moat so the birds can't drink from it.  There is not much opportunity for birds to drink good water around Westminster.  I think they should turn the moat into a wildlife pond so the big crow who comes to visit us every week doesn't die of thirst.  I must ask Mary to write to Mr Gove about that. 

I wasn't sad to see the farming Minister Mr Eustice resign but I heard through the Badger Grapevine that he doesn't like Badgers either. Mary just read about him in Pig World and Poultry news . He knows about farming and woodland burials for Hupeople. He also speaks lots of languages.  He is big mates with the NFU which doesn't bode well for us Badgers.

Here is his picture:

But there is some much better news.  Today Tony Juniper has been appointed as the new Chair of Natural England.  These are the people who actually organise the killing of us Badger Folk.  If anyone can stop the killing it is Mr Juniper because he was involved with the WWF and other animal-loving Charities such as the Wildlife Trusts. Here is his picture:

So we Badgers and our Badger loving friends are keeping our fingers and claws crossed.  Mary is going to meet Mr Juniper when he gives a talk in April.  I will ask her to take me with her so I can tell him all about how we Badgers have lost 70,000 of our friends and my husband Brian and my cub Bryony who were both shot and I still have a broken heart. 

Mary asked me to mention the several Hupeople who introduced themselves to her at DEFRA having heard her on Radio 4 PM programme.  It was lovely to meet you all and thank you for coming to talk to us.  We specially liked the Huwoman from Cumbria who had been searching for us and wanted to shake my paw because she loves badgers. 

I want to finish with some nice picture we took last week in Westminster.  This first one is of a Human with a really smelly machine who was filling holes in the ground with sticky black stuff; I would hate to get that on my paws:

And a lovely picture taken in a park we walk by just down the road from DEFRA.  Spring is coming and soon the cubs will be playing out in the sun

Night Night, Betty  and her Cubs 🐾🐾🐾