Betty Badger drinks Champagne

Hello Betty Fans, Have I got news for you!? 
The Badger Kill-Cull is being phased out and Defra is going move to Cow and Badger vaccination as I said all along they should do. Here is a picture of a happy Badger from The Independent.

Today me and Mary were standing outside Defra getting very cold, wet and miserable.  (Does it always rain on Thursdays?) Anyway we met Tony Juniper, the head of Natural England and in charge of killing Badgers.  Mary asked him if there was any Badger news and he told us Professor Godfray's review was to be published today. He hinted that it would be "quite positive" . Why was there a delay of a year? Probably to give Defra a chance to kill 60,000 more Badgers.  Like my cub Bryony...

Two other Defra staff also said the report was to be published one said with"surprising" conclusions. I started to get excited but Mary didn't want to hope in case our hopes were dashed again.  So we stood there in the rain until we were wet through and chilled to our bones then made our dripping way to the tube. Mary said we might get Corona.  I thought it was a drink as I was very thirsty but she explained it was a disease also called Covid 19. 

On the train Mary's phone made a noise and there was a message saying that the Badger Kill-Cull was to be phased out.  Mary's eyes started leaking.  I was so wet that my fur was leaking everywhere and I was too heavy to jump up and down with joy. 

Today we took three of the new cubs with us so 12 members of my family shared the news. Here are the new cubs in Mary's kitchen with their labels attached in case they got lost. 

Now, it is not all good news and we won't dwell on the fact that the "phasing out" of the Badger Kill-Cull may take five years, so there may be a lot more Badgers shot. We will look at the details another day, but this is the day of celebration. Mary has promised us some special sparkling water tonight and warned me not to drink too much in case I got tiddly like I did that time when I had too many rotting apples:

I have other news to share:

If you are a Defra Betty fan you might have missed me for a few weeks.  I wasn't staying at home manicuring my claws but I was outside 10 Downing Street. Then I decided to go to the back of Downing Street for a while as they have a rear entrance where the staff and other important Hupeople go in and out when they don't want to be seen by the press.  I saw Carrie, Mr Johnson's mate, and some cars with tinted windows. This is Carrie Symonds who also likes Badgers and who will be having a cub soon:

 We all got very wet and some of the cubs blew away in the wind and a nice Police Officer holding a big machine gun caught one of them for me.

But we accidentally broke the law and a Police metal box on wheels drove up to me and asked me to get into the back seat.  Mary was really worried I would be taken away and put in prison. The Police officers admitted that they asked me to get into their car because they didn't want to get soaked. So I soaked their car for them instead. 

They told me the pavement at the back of Downing Street is in fact a Royal Park and there are lots of things you are not allowed to do in these parks including putting up signs and hanging out your washing to dry on the trees.  It was not a good drying day and we didn't hang up any washing. This all seemed a bit silly . But I went away as ordered and we were so miserable that we went home and Mary had another Greggs vegan sausage roll.  I decided to persuade her to go back to Defra from now on otherwise she will get fat from comforting herself with savoury snacks.

Today we had our picture taken by a very important Human with really nice fur. He is in charge of Barking and Dagenham and he likes Badgers, even though he doesn't have many in his area. His daughter loves us and is very angry about the Kill Cull. He is putting the whole Badger family on his facebook page.

I also want to tell you more about the fox with three legs.  He is still coming to Mary's garden.  Remember I said last time that the rats were laughing at him because he was too slow to catch them, well he proved them wrong:

Mary's garden has become like  swamp because of the rain and the Chickens.  There are so many puddles that two Mallard Ducks have joined the fourteen Chickens and various Pheasants who escaped the shoot. If they all start mating we should have some interesting creatures. 

I just thought I heard a shot but it was the sparkling strong water opening so I had better stop. 

Politics is a strange and twisted thing full of Weasel words and dark deals made behind closed doors.  It is rarely honest, rational and clear. Politicians hate to lose face or do U turns so they tell lies.  If the government hadn't worried about losing face they would have stopped the Kill-Cull long before now. They also want votes so have to please powerful groups such as the National Farmers Union. 

I only hope that the good Hupeople who care about science, wildlife and compassion will get a chance to lead the policy now so that Badgers and our cubs can walk without fear of being shot. 

I just want to say a huge Badger Thank You to all the good Hupeople who have worked so hard in all weathers and sometimes in despair to try to save us.  Betty and her Badger friends love you 

Night Night,
Betty 🐾🐾🐾