Betty Suspects Foul Play

Hello Betty Fans, 
We had lots of entertainment at DEFRA Smith Square this week because we spent an hour watching a Human loading up around two hundred Lenovo ThinkPads from DEFRA and taking them away   Mary said there is an important message there; it suggests that DEFRA has given up thinking.  

I said it is clear that part of DEFRA don't think anyway if they can go ahead with a Kill-Cull that isn't justified by science.  One of your famous scientists called Thomas Edison said "Five percent of the people think, ten per cent of the people think they think and the other 85 per cent would rather die than think"  Knowing what I have learned about Hupeople, that sounds about right.  Mary thinks, sometimes, and it often makes her unhappy when she sees how cruel and irrational the world is.

I was fascinated by the Human stacking all the boxes and putting them on pallets and making them rise off the ground into his big metal box on wheels.  And all the time he was showing off his bottom.  I wondered if he was trying to attract Mary as a mate but she said it's what some Workmen do.  It was quite distracting. This is an example of the phenomenon. 

Moving to more serious matters, we did sneak into Tony Juniper's Wildlife Trust talk last week and we met lots of our Hupeople Badger friends.  Here I am in Mary's car in a bag:

Mary's comment after the talk was "Fine words butter no parsnips" which I think means  he spoke very well because he is a clever academic but we are not sure if any of his fine words will translate into anything practical.  

Worse, Mr Juniper admitted he didn't know very much about the issues surrounding the Badger Kill-Cull. I think Hupeople will be queuing up to educate him when he starts as Chief of Natural England on 23rd April.  Me and Mary will be at the head of the queue.  Questions to Mr Juniper were carefully controlled but Mary waved her arms around so much that she was allowed to ask one of the three questions from the floor.  Actually, she sneaked in a lot of questions very fast so no one could interrupt her. She asked how we could protect wildlife unless farmers could be stopped from cutting down meadows before the wild flowers have a chance to flower and feed the bees, and how we would stop the farmers using nasty chemicals that kill insects and wild plants.    Here are some Nettles and Cleavers we saw when we were out walking last week.  These nettles won't be much good for Peacock Butterflies:

 Mary asked about shooting for sport and said how 40 million Pheasants and Partridges are put into our countryside every year and we kill our wildlife such as Buzzards and Weasels and Foxes and Ravens to make sure the Shoots are profitable. And she said that eating dead animals is not green and if we were serious about global warming and saving our wildlife then we should be vegan.  Mary does rant....

We were left quite disheartened and aren't sure if Mr Juniper will be the Badgers' Saviour after all.  Here is a picture of a Badger and her Cub who lived in Devon until they were shot so we remember who we are fighting for:

I have been making friends with all the wildlife in Mary's garden, even the Chickens.  They remind me of toddler Cubs and are so full of exuberance and very noisy.   They are really enjoying living in Mary's garden and are doing things they were never able to do when they were living in cages laying eggs for Hupeople's breakfasts and cakes.  They are related to jungle fowl and like nothing more than hanging around trees,  Here is Ginger:

The cats are more like cool teenage cubs.  We have lots of lovely pheasants and we have Mallards and even Mandarin ducks in Mary's pond which is very small so their feet probably touch the ground.  Mary's garden is a wildlife haven.  The Muntjac deer are very frisky and spend most of their time thinking about mating  (like Hupeople and Badgers) and putting their noses up each other's bottoms.  Here is a nice video of a Muntjac deer sniffing Mary's camera:

But the handsomest of all the Animals in Mary's Garden is ME Betty Badger.  Here is a video of me:

When you see how beautiful we Badgers are don't you wonder why so many Hupeople want to hurt us?  Only 2 days ago Mary was checking out a local Badger sett which is very busy with a Spring clean and she saw a dead Rabbit right by the entrance.  "Hmm.." she said, "I wonder if that is poisoned so that Foxes and Badgers eat it and die" .   

So Mary carried it home and it is now in her freezer waiting to be sent for something called A Nally Sis.  Natural England did that for Mary before when she found a dead Buzzard.  They said it was killed by Rat poison.  So many people use Rat poison and it kills so many of our wildlife such as Owls and Crows and Red Kites and other animals who eat their dead little bodies.

Hupeople always seem to want to poison things .  Do you remember that beautiful Fox Cub that was killed with Strychnine last year?  Mary and her friend Tom took it in their arms to Tiggywinkles to try to  save it but it died in agony.  That's what some Hupeople do to make the Pheasant shoots profitable.  They killed 11 cubs near Mary's house and she cried a lot.

When Mary got out of bed on DEFRA day this week she was troubled when she trod on something soft and furry.  It was a dead young Rat brought in by Rufus, who used to catch leaves and bring them home but he has stopped being a vegetarian.  This is Rufus with a laurel leaf:

Mary is very matter of fact about Rats as they often hang around her house - literally:

She took the Rat out for the wildlife to eat and it was soon soaring into the sky in the beak of a Crow to be food for its young.  Ah; the cycle of life.  Nature abhors waste.

I think it is very odd that the Politicians are allowed to go on Holiday this Easter when they haven't sorted out Brexit.  We shouldn't take a holiday until a job is done which is why Mary and I wont be having a recess because we haven't stopped the Badger Kill-Cull yet. The Politicians have been misbehaving in Parly Ment and Mrs May did say they couldn't have a holiday but then she changed her mind because they threatened to throw her in the Thames River. 

We met lots of fans at recent DEFRA trips. This week we met Mark whose Partner heard us on the radio.  Mark was lovely and reminded me of a Hare with his bright eyes and quick movements- and lots of hair on his face.  He was so kind to us.  Several Hupeople shook my paw and I was very careful not to scratch them because I have very long and sharp claws.  

A huge Human told me how he loved Badgers as he had them in his garden near Croydon and feeds them treats every night.  They come right up to his door and bring their cubs to meet him.  Isn't is wonderful that there are kind Hupeople around who love Badgers?   Hello to Mark and the Big Human and the Hupeople who always talks to me and to all those who say Hello Betty and Well Done Betty and Keep it up Betty. We had lots of selfies done which are now zooming around the Internet Oracle and the Twitter. You make Betty feel very happy.

Me and Mary were very touched when nice Tom wrote a comment on my last Blog in the form of a poem which squeezed our little hearts.    I wrote a comment back that says, 

Dear Tom,Mary and I were overwhelmed by your lovely words. At first we didn't know who you were writing about because you made Betty and Mary seem such special Creatures and we are just an ordinary Badger and Old Huwoman trying to make a stand against cruelty evil and stupidity. 

So thank you for making us feel that someone notices and cares while we stand around waving and saying hello to everyone. We would like to think that we are making a little difference and you help us to feel that might be possible.

Love, Betty xxx

I think that's a good place to stop so thank you fans.  Oh, and don't forget to THINK!

Night Night

Betty 🐾🐾🐾