Betty Roars and Mary Weeps

Hello Betty Fans,
There is no justice for Badgers. Me and Mary are lost in a pool of sadness.  Defra announced they would be shooting 64.000 Badgers this Autumn and that made Mary's eyes leak for two weeks, hence the pool of tears just like in Alice in Wonderland.. Here is a nice picture of a Badger to cheer you all up:

Mary nearly gave up the battle to save us but then she found her courage and we arranged a powerful protest outside Defra.  Rather than the usual chant:

 "What do we want"
Stop the Cull
When do we want it
Now!"

Mary did a little drama in which I, Betty Badger, played a starring role. 

It involved us all standing in absolute ominous silence, then everyone chanted my name and I came out and danced about a bit and then I got shot. It all got very messy as Mary had some red poster paint.  The other Badger called Bertie also got shot.  The best bit was when I was dying and everyone started screaming and humming and crying.  Mary roared so loud with a voice so full of rage and despair that I felt the earth move on its foundations. Mary described it as "cathartic" which means  "the purging of emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, especially through certain kinds of art such as tragedy or music"  

NASA announced the discovery of a couple of reasons why the earth occasionally wobbles on its axis- Huwoman despair is another reason....

Anyway, she seemed a lot better afterwards and looked twenty years younger- this is a picture of her after her Roar with her Badger loving friends Chris and Rosie.

Meanwhile I am covered in poster paint and nobody seems to care about that. They haven't even given me a good wash. 

Unfortunately we did spill a little paint on the ground outside Marsham Street and they sent a Huwoman out to clean it up.  I thought it was interesting that they didn't get a Human to help but I guess that cleaning up is a female's work rather than important Humen's work because they are always so busy of standing around chatting. When Mary saw the Huwoman this week, she thanked her for cleaning up after us. 

We did some speeches and here is a picture of Mary talking to the assembled throng wearing something that looks like me! 

I think the most remarkable thing about the picture is that Mary can actually still bend her knees, and get up again.  She is really old and will be 65 Huwoman years in a couple of days time.

One funny thing that happened was Extinction Rebellion were also having a protest at the same time, about us eating the earth.  We eventually got out of the way and let them do their drama which was all about how what we eat affects the planet. I am not sure that Badgers eating Worms will have too much impact on Global Warming.  They had a table and a waitress and diners but, best of all, they had Cakes.  These Cakes were supposed to look like the earth, but I have never seen the earth as a blue and green ball- I thought it was flat.... But who cares

When no one was looking Bertie and I ate the earth and it was delicious.  

We got a picture in The Guardian which is said to be a paper of news that compassionate people read.  Lots  of my signs are in the photos.  I'm glad my spelling is improving...

As I am writing, hundreds of Badgers will already be dead.  Their families will be sad, wondering where they have gone. They will guess it is something to do with this flash bang sticks that roar during the night. 

As I said, we both nearly gave up trying to stop the killing and Mary took to her bed and wouldn't talk to anyone for a couple of weeks.  Last week her eyes leaked so much when we were outside Defra  that Mrs Villier's driver and the nice Security man Bob were worried about us.  Several of our Defra friends, said, "Don't give up Betty". 

But no one beats Betty so, last night, Mary bought her train ticket to Man Chester to the Conservatory Party Conference on Monday.  It cost her £150 for the Virgin train fare but I said it was worth all that money because they are such lovely trains that look like Badgers.  

We are so excited.  We are going up when Mrs Villiers is giving her talk and Mary has asked her MP Grant Shapps if we can meet her.  Mary said something about flying pigs, but I am not sure what she was talking about.  Mr Shapps once said to Mary, "What is an intelligent woman like you worried about a few Badgers for?" Mary told her local paper about that....  This is Mary's MP . 

 
As usual we went on our Defra vigil again this week and we met lots of wonderful Hupeople who are so angry about politicians behaving like children over Brexit .  They are busy playing games and are not dealing with important things like stopping Cow TB by vaccinating cattle, or all the Huperson misery in the Country. One Huwoman stopped us at our train station and thanked Mary for trying to save the Badgers.  Mary wears clothes that say "Stop the Cull" and have pictures of a nice Badger.

We met another Huwoman outside Defra and she wants to be Mary's friend and may join us in our Thursday vigils.  She is very angry about the Badger Kill-Cull

Another interesting Huperson we met is from The United States of America.  He is a Wisconsin Badger.  They are very active Badgers and play a game called Football and lots of other games running around chasing balls. Here is a picture of a Wisconsin Badger. 

He was a very friendly Human as are most Americans except those who like shooting their friends and neighbours and wildlife.  

Mary has been busy tweeting on Twitter.  She is not really sure how to do it but she seems to have a few people following her.  She is @badgeradvocate .  She got very angry with Tony Juniper, the  new head of Natural England.  He used to be the head of the Wildlife Trusts and said he loved Badgers but now he is the man that signed the paper to kill 64,000 Badgers this autumn.  Mary says he should resign.  When he said how increasingly popular Natural England was with the general public Mary tweeted that he was deluded. 

While we were outside Defra this week we were waved at by who Mary thinks was George Eustice, the Farming Minister.  He is the man that wants Badgers to die. 

Lots of important Hupeople are angry about the Kill-Cull.  One of them is Alick Simmons who used to be the Deputy Chief Vet at Defra. Another one is a vet and former government agriculture scientist called Iain McGill.  He made an impassioned speech and accused Defra of scientific fraud.  

What I really want to know is, if all these clever scientists think the Kill-Cull should not go ahead, then why is it? Who is the person who is making this happen?  Who is the evil genius with great powers of persuasion causing this to happen? I think we should all be told. I think it might be that Human I have met going into Defra who said 120.000 dead Badgers  is not enough.  He said he wants ten times that many to die. 

I must tell you some more exciting news.  Me and Mary are giving a talk on Tuesday.  Here are the details.  Of course, we might get kidnapped in Man Chester.   Here is the poster:

Oh, Mary has just announced that she will give me a good wash to get the paint off before we go to Man Chester on Monday.  We don't want people up there to think Southern Badgers are dirty. 

I am sue I will have lots of exciting adventures to share when I get back.

Night Night

Betty 🐾🐾🐾

Betty Badger Contaminates a Crime Scene

Hello Fans. We had an exciting time at Defra last week because a crazy Human stabbed a member of Defra staff, just where I normally stand .  Fortunately I didn't arrive until ten  minutes after the stabbing. This is a picture of the knife:

 And here is a picture of the Human who was stabbed.  Just think, it could have been Betty!

There were so many TV cameras and I got asked questions by the TV and press.  They didn't want to hear about the Badger Kill-Cull.  I think I spoiled lots of their pictures by positioning myself just by the crime scene with all my signs.  I got into big trouble when one of my signs flew away into the taped off area.  The Human in uniform told me to hold on to my signs and not contaminate the crime scene again. 

Here is my picture of the the excitement:

I do understand why Hupeople sometimes turn to violence. Mary and I have tried so hard to end the injustice of the Badger Kill-Cull.  We have stood outside Defra for two years, we have been on the Radio, national and local, we have written to the papers, we have seen Mary's MP and we have even had a meeting with the Secretary of State Mr Gove, and yet there is no change to an irrational and cruel policy. Sometimes violence must seem like the only option left to get heard. I have suggested that Mary sets herself on fire outside Defra to get the headlines but she won't agree to that. 

There are lots of peculiar Hupeople in that area around Marsham Street as Mary and I have discovered to our cost.  I am glad to say that the member of staff was not badly hurt.  The crazy Human had a white Ferret with him and Hupeople seemed more worried about the fate of the Ferret rather than the poor Human who was stabbed. Isn't odd that British are a nation of Animal lovers yet they go around killing so many animals like Badgers and Hares and Foxes.  And although Ferrets are related to Badgers we don't seem to matter so much. This is a ferret:

Remember I asked the question in my last Badger log about who was in charge of Defra?  I suggested it was the National Farmers Union.  Well; I was right because a senior member of staff, who will remain nameless, confirmed it this Thursday outside Defra.  It is a big secret.

Badger-loving Hupeople have already set up in their big tents in the West Country ready to try to stop the killing which will begin on Monday, even though Defra hasn't made the announcement yet.  Another one of my Defra Moles told me that the Ministers are all so busy with Brexit that they haven't actually signed the paper yet.  I wonder if that makes the killing unlawful.

But the Hupeople saving our lives in the countryside have already seen the killers putting out peanuts to attract my Badger friends.  Once we know where there are peanuts we cannot resist them.  So tens of thousands of my Badger kin will be tempted by peanuts to their deaths. Because Mary and I are so sad a bout this we won't say much today. Mary's eyes have been leaking a lot lately every time she thinks about all the dead Badgers.  If I could cry then I would too, but Badgers don't cry even when are hearts are broken by wicked Hupeople who kill us even though we are innocent.

I have made some good friends in Defra and, because Hupeople find it easier to talk to a strange Badger than their families, they tell me their problems and I help sort them out.  The jolly Defra Huwoman with red boots came to say goodbye as her contract hasn't been renewed.  She is sad and I will miss her.

Mary is wondering whether to go with me  to the Conservatory Party Conference like she has in the last three years.  We did have so much fun in Manchester before.

I think she's worrying about leaving the Chickens because there is a fox about.  In any case she has probably left it so late to get a room.  It would be fun however if we could get a room in the hotel where all the Conservatories are staying and then I could meet lots of MPs and talk to them.  They mightn't like Betty Badger at the breakfast table though because I am a noisy eater.  Mary said to ask if there is any benefactor out there who can sneak us into the Hotel.  We did try joining the Conservatory Party but they rejected our application...

On the subject of Chickens, Mary has now bought them a play tent!!!  They don't even go inside to shelter from the weather but stand outside pecking it.  I really don't know what Mary sees in Chickens.  All they do is scratch and peck, whereas we Badgers build tunnels and can dig up bees nests and dig under chicken fences and eat chickens.... but I am restraining myself not do that out of kindness to Mary. 

Another positive bit of news.  Mary tells me that her Cat Rufus must have been a mechanic in a previous life because he is fascinated by cars and other machines.  Here is a picture of him learning all about combine harvesters. It is remarkable that he has survives for six years.  He managed to burn a hole in his face when he was inspecting a hot exhaust pipe leaving a circular ring around his eye and has been driven off in the back of a van.  I only wish that Badgers had nine lives...

Mary and I might not write a blog for a while now because, if the Badger Kill-Cull is announced tomorrow, we may have broken hearts, or get arrested because we lose control or I might get killed by the evil Humen with their flash-bang sticks.  We Badgers live in terrible times. 

Au revoirs

Betty🐾🐾🐾