I thought you might have been worried about me so a quick Blog to let you know about your favourite Badger. Oh, have I had a difficult time, but things are getting better. For the first time in living memory I missed 2 weeks at Defra. Why? Because I got caught in a snare and had a very bad paw. This is a snare:
When a Creature gets caught in a snare it tightens around them and is supposed to hold the Animal quietly until the game keeper comes along to kill it. In reality the Creature struggles desperately to escape and can get strangled or badly injured. Sometimes the game keeper doesn't come back at all and the poor Animal suffers and starves and then dies.
And, of course, if you live in the countryside your Cat or Dog can get caught in a snare- they often do:
Luckily I didn't die because one of the cubs found me and went to get Mary and she used some sharp scissors she called snips to get me out. If it wasn't for Mary I might have died like this poor Badger:
Snares are often set up on shooting estates to kill any Animals that might reduce the profitability of shooting Pheasants and Partridges. After a shoot the bodies of the birds shot are sometimes put into "stink pits". I really don't understand why if they kill a bird they don't eat it; it is such a waste. The smell of all this flesh attracts all sorts of meat eating Creatures such as Foxes and Buzzards and Crows..... and Badgers. And so we get snared and die too.
Mary land I live near a shooting estate so we are always at risk of getting caught. Luckily it was only my paw, and Mary put antiseptic on it so I won't die of infection. Still I now walk with a wobble and I am having trouble digging holes but my cubs are helping me out.
Another visitor to Mary's garden is Fox. He was a cub last year. Sadly he got caught in a snare too. Here is a video of him taken last night:
As you can see he has lost one of his legs at the front. He probably had to chew it off. It is a miracle that he didn't die. Mary feeds him because he has trouble chasing Rabbits. Unfortunately Mary's food has attracted Rats who eat the Fox food. They aren't scared of the Fox because they know he can't run as fast as them Here is a video showing them last night stealing his food:
It all happens in Mary's garden at night. There might even be a Puma... so Mary doesn't wander around in the dark as much as she used to... . This is a Puma
We have been back at Defra for the last three weeks but my paw has been too sore for typing. It has been good to be back after the Festive break to see all our friends again. On my first day back a lovely Huwoman gave me a free chocolate pudding called a Coconut Collaborative. It was almost as nice as Peanut butter and Marmite sandwiches.
Another Huwoman came up to me and said "Thank you, Thank you ,Thank you for everything you are doing." It quite made me blush. Last week a Human came up to me and said the same sort of thing and shook my by my sore paw- i didn't complain though because he was being kind.
I was so glad to see my Angel, the lovely Human who always arrives to look after me when I am in trouble. And I wasn't even in trouble. We had a nice chat about how sensitive Creatures sometimes find life hard, but we are glad that we are sensitive because it makes us more compassionate. I am even compassionate to Mary's Chickens. The one called Mars died last week and Mary's eyes leaked a lot, so much so that she nearly had 2 accidents while driving home from the vet. I avoid going into the metal box on wheels with Mary.
There is going to be a reshuffle in by Boris very soon. He is in a bit of trouble because the National Farmers Union say he is being influenced by his girlfriend Carrie. They say she persuaded him to stop the killing of Badgers in Derbyshire . Actually it was silly to kill Badgers in Derbyshire because they had just begun an Badger vaccination programme there.
Anyway, Badgers and their friends are hoping that Zac Goldsmith becomes the Defra Secretary of State because he doesn't believe in the Badger Kill-Cull. I am not too hopeful though because I think some Civil Servants and the NFU will try to assassinate him if he tries to stop the policy of killing us lovely Badgers. This is Zac Goldsmith:
It is very strange how government is over five weeks later than usual in announcing how many Badgers they killed in the Autumn. They have always announced the figures before Xmas. But not this year. Someone has made a Freedom of Information request to make them tell us the truth.
Mary's mother called Nora has gone into a place where they look after very old Hupeople who have forgotten who they are. She is happy there. Mary has been very, very tired and sad in recent months because of her old mother and it has been hard for her to go to Defra every week. A positive aspect of Nora's move into a happy place is that Mary will now have more time and energy to look after me and my Badger friends. I am sure that everyone at Defra will be pleased to hear that.
We are thinking of moving our vigil back to 10 Downing Street, at the front where the public and tourists hang around and take pictures, but also at the back where a lot of important Hupeople come and go. So you may not see as much of me and Mary as you used to. Downing Street is where I started my vigil two and a half years ago and we made lots of police friends there.
We saw Tony Juniper at Defra again this week. He had no words of support or hope to offer. Mr Juniper has bee a huge disappointment to Badgers and our Hupeople friends.
My poor paw is getting sore now so I will stop. I have a feeling in my old Badger bones that there will be some positive movement on the matter of the Badger Kill-Cull in the weeks ahead. If not, watch out because Mary is getting herself energised to go into battle.
Night Night,
Betty
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