Betty gets Arrested...nearly. And is Theresa Villiers locked in a Cupboard?

Hello Betty Fans.
I could be in prison now if some of our lovely Defra friends hadn't told the police that I was a good Badger who wasn't going to cause any trouble.

My adventure on Thursday began in Smith Square where they have put up security barriers and had been besieged by Extinction Rebellion for three days.  Everyone was nervous that they would come back and glue themselves to something. They were spoilsports and wouldn't let me hang my signs on their barriers, but I did enjoy hanging them on some nice bits of wood and the cubs enjoyed climbing them.

Once we arrived to spend our next hour at Great Peter Street the police immediately approached me and Mary and told us to go away.  Mary said she was not going to move.  The police said they would have to arrest us because there was a Section 14 notice which meant that the only place anyone could protest for two weeks was Trafalgar Square. Mary said she always came here on Thursdays and wasn't going to cause problems. One senior policeman said I was "a magnet for trouble"! Me Betty Badger?! Mary started crying (I think it was with rage and despair) .  Then a lovely Huwoman from Defra told the police officer that I was a peace-loving Institution and never caused trouble.  So the policeman let us stay.

After the police officers saw how many Hupeople came to chat with us and we didn't shout at them or bite them, they became very friendly and they wanted to know all about Badgers and the Kill-Cull and what we like eating and how we live in our setts.   These are our favourite food ...

Once we went to Marsham Street for our next hour we had the same problem with a police officer who was not at all happy to see me,  He told me to go away and once again we said we always stood here on Thursdays and had to stay for the sake of the Badgers who were being killed.  He then threatened to arrest me.  Mary was worried about the Chickens not being put away and being eaten by foxes if we were arrested and also she didn't have her contact lens case with her....  I was worried about going hungry because they might not have worms in prison.  Once again the loyal staff at Marsham Street came to our aid and told the police to let me stay.  Isn't it wonderful how kind these Hupeople are?  Anyway the police officer had a discussion on his radio and the Chief Constable of the Metropolitan Police gave me a special dispensation to stay.!!!  

But we did promise not to come next Thursday and be a magnet for trouble again, so instead Mary is going to talk to a school in Tring about Badgers and Animal Rights.  We never rest... So don't expect to see us on 17th.

I understand why the police officers where unhappy and worried about me because the previous day Marsham Street was closed by campers in tents and doing all sorts of things like singing and dancing and drinking tea. 

Mary tells me that I have to mention some stuff about the Badger Kill-Cull which I know will make us all sad, but you can't eat eggs without cracking shells.  There has been all sorts of publicity about Badgers this week, the most important being a report by the RSPCA called "Not everything is black and white" which says that killing Badgers is just a distraction from actually dealing with the problem of Bovine TB. They agree with Mary and most experts agree that we are hardly significant in the spread of bTB and that it is all down to Biosecurty.  

Did you know for example that there are 1.7 Million cattle movement in England every year and since the TB test is really unreliable, this means that tens or even hundreds of thousands of cows are being moved around the country who might have TB ... an they blame Badgers!!!


There is also a consultation document which Mary has done but I hope you 
will complete it too.  Here is the link.
 RSPCA report and Consultation document

Mary thinks Theresa Villiers, the Secretary of State at Defra, is locked in a cupboard and they won't let her out unless she promises not to talk about Badgers. 


Mary has written to Ms Villiers but never gets a reply and NOR DOES ANYONE ELSE!  One of Mary's friends tried to see her at her constituency office about something else but was told that she couldn't talk about anything covered by Defra.  That seems odd because Mary's MP Grant Shapps is happy to talk about anything.  Ms Villiers has refused to see Mary for an appointment, even though Mr Gove was happy to see her. 

Worse, when Mary was expecting to get a letter from Mrs Villiers she got one from George Eustice instead who also refused to see her and said he fully intends to keep killing Badgers until 2026 at least.  I think I will die of despair.  And do you know, Mr George Eustice has the nerve to say hello and wave to me and Mary on Thursdays when he pops out for his lunch? I hope he gets eaten by Worms from the inside and knows it is happening...  

There is so much in the news about Badgers this week.  Some saying that TB is going up since they started killing Badgers, some say that TB was going down in some areas, some say that TB is spreading since they started killing us,   The truth is that everyone wants to believe what they want to believe, BUT the RSPCA and the government's own independent adviser Professor Godfray said the Government should focus on biosecurity and that it would be cheaper and more effective to vaccinate us rather than to kill us. 

Why is the government not listening to the RSPCA and even its own experts?  I think we should be told. And Mary wants to know what has happened to the £20 million the government agreed to spend on a Cow vaccine.

Anyway, please keep writing to Theresa Villiers to see if they have let her out to reply.  Also Zac Goldsmith from Defra isn't replying too because he doesn't want the Kill-Cull to happen, so they have probably put him in the cupboard with Ms Villiers, or kidnapped their loved ones and will chop off their ears if they say anything about not supporting killing Badgers.  .  Who is pulling all the strings at Defra so that Badgers continue to die when we are not to blame?

End of ranting.   But I want to leave you with this picture taken by someone in the Kill-Cull zones this week.  They are shooting us and then dumping our bodies in piles and leaving us to get maggots until they can be bothered to collect our precious bodies. Thank heavens for the good Wildlife Warriors who are trying to save us so that 64,000 of us will not die this Autumn. 

Badgers are Innocent victims of  cruel injustice and bad farming practices.  While your read this, Badgers are dying.  Hundreds every day.  Please do what you can to stop it.

Night Night,
Betty
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