Tuesday 16 June 2020

Betty and The Bobby

Hello Betty Badger Fans,

There has been so much going on in Whitehall in the last few weeks and I have been part of the excitement although my drama didn't quite hit the headlines.

When me and Mary were doing our vigil on Thursday a member of the public went up to the Police Officers in the Downing Street Cage and shouted "There's a Badger in the road".  And I looked round to see that my nephew little Bobby Badger had been blown by a strong gust of wind into the middle of Whitehall with cars zooming around him.  I began to trundle into the road and a kind Police Human said "No, let me" and he dashed into the road and saved Bobby's life.  He placed Bobby on the ground into the protection of the rather heavier Big Bessie Badger. So Bobby was saved by a Bobby.  The Bobby let me take his picture but couldn't have a badger in his hand in case it suggested he was in support of my vigil, which I am sure he is.  Anyway, I am so grateful for his prompt action.  Here is his picture.  It's a shame he has to stay in a cage for much of the day: 

The Police Hupeople are having a pretty hard time just now and I don't think it is fair.  They are very kind to me when I hang around Downing Street and we have nice chats.  They are always pleased to see me and ask if I need water etc.  One of them was injured last week when Protesters threw one of the barriers over the fence at him.  And then there are the poor Police Horses. We say hello when we meet and they are so brave, but even a brave Horse can get scared when someone sets a firework off near it.  I would run away very fast.  I do wonder though why they need to use Horses.  I am sure the Horses would prefer to be in a green field munching grass and wild flowers and going for the occasional canter.  I would prefer to be in a nice field too rather than Whitehall, but I have to keep going until Badgers are safe.  Here is a picture of a couple of my Police Horse friends:


Mary has been giving me looks.... It was after one of her friends on the Book of Faces reported that a Badger had got though her six foot fence, her electric netting and through the fox proof cage and killed all her chickens.  Then the  Book started saying that Badgers were wicked and kill all the Hedge Hogs and the usual scapegoat stuff.  Anyway, Mary defended my honour and pointed out that the world expert on Hedge Hogs, Hugh Warwick, doesn't blame us but blames Hupeople and their roads and houses and fences and slug pellets. Mary said that we were excellent predators and brilliant at digging and obviously would eat anything that we came across, but that 50% of out diet was worms.  

I promise I won't eat Mary's hens, but perhaps the occasional egg might roll my way.  Mary is very anxious about Foxes now because the Cubs are learning how to hunt and Chickens are simply not safe when out free ranging.  This means that Mary never goes out any more and doesn't sleep for worrying.  I bumped into her at midnight last night wandering around the garden in her dressing gown chasing off a Fox.

While on the subject of chickens Rosie, the current Chief Chicken, is very poorly probably with the usual Egg Yolk Peritonitis, caused by having had to lay so many eggs when she was in the egg industry.  Mary keeps her in at night and gives her antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.  She didn't eat or drink for 4 days, even though Mary gave her a Chicken meze of worms, cat food, seeds, biscuits and  sugared water.  Here is a picture of Rosie with her chicken Buffet:



Rosie has started to get a little better and her life has been saved by eating Hobnobs, which are a very tasty biscuit full of sugar which Mary gives me sometimes but not too often in case they rot my teeth.  Badgers don't have dentists so we can't afford to get bad teeth.

While we were at Downing Street on Thursday a Dog took a dislike to us.  He was growling at me and wanted to bite me.  The Police Officers thought it was very funny as the Dog was a Poodle.   They probably don't know that Poodles have a long history as hunting dogs.  Anyway, I think they look really silly with bits of fur cut off their tails and limbs.  In fact, I mentioned to Mary that the missing fur made them look as if they have mange, which often removes fur from the tail.  They probably shave Poodles so we wouldn't realise they had mange.  Next time Mary sees a Poodle I have asked her to call it a Mangy Dog.  Here is a Poodle :


And here is a video of one of Mary's Fox visitors who she is treating for mange:



We saw Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, several times  over the last weeks. as he goes into Downing Street  He still hasn't managed to smile at us even though I wave and say Hello , but I will make him smile eventually.   He must have a lot on his mind, especially as Boris wants Hupeolpe to go shopping and get closer than 2 metres.  That might mean they will all get The Virus.   No wonder Mr Whitty looks so worried all the time.



Chis Whitty must know quite a lot about diseases and I must ask Mary to write to him to intervene on behalf of us Badgers.

I don't want to talk about The Kill-Cull today except to remind you that Badgers and their new Cubs are being shot every night.  Please write to your MP and ask them to stop.  Meanwhile in our area Badgers are not being killed very often except by wicked Hupeople called Sadists who take pleasure in harming creatures , oh and Game Keepers who are worried that we might eat their Pheasants so reducing their profits. 

Instead I want to tell you how we are all going on in our sett, or setts to be precise  In summer we Badgers often move some of the more difficult Badger boars to outlying setts so they won't bully the young cubs.  Some of the old Badgers choose to go and live away from the sett because they want to escape all the noise the young Cubs make and scampering around jumping on them and generally being annoying.  There is a lot to do on these warmer days as we have to clear out our homes and tunnels which go on for such a long way.. We take out all the old bedding and fill up our chambers with lovely fresh hay that makes everywhere smell delicious. If you live near a Badger sett you might see discarded pile of old grass nearby. Here is a picture of us doing our summer clean out drawn by Michael Clark who is a Badger Expert. 


We have lots of different entrances so we have other ways out in case the Fox Hunters block them up to stop Foxes escaping down the holes.  Strange that they still do that when Fox hunting is illegal, but there we are.  Mary knows some lovely Hupeople who go out and regularly check the Badger setts in their areas to make sure they are not all blocked up by wicked Humen. 

Now I am quite an old Badger my job is to help with the cleaning and looking after the Cubs and give them a cuff around the ear when they get too boisterous. I also make sure they don't stray too far or go near a snare.  You might member I had a close shave with a snare last year and Mary saved my life. I go round the area keeping up to date on where the Game Keeper has put new traps.  He has also killed all the buzzards and Magpies and other Creatures he regards as vermin.  The word Vermin must mean, "Creatures that affect profit" .

One of our silly younger males, Brian, has dug himself a new hole close to where the Game Keeper lives.  Mary is keeping very close eye on him but we are not sure Brian will last long. 

Mary has Hay Fever which means that she is allergic to Nature, which seems a bit silly, especially when she lives in a field.  She is really suffering.  I joke that she must remember her Tena lady pants in case she sneezes too vigorously when we are at Downing Street.  That would be embarrassing, for both of us.

I must get back to looking after the little ones.  I thought I would leave you with a picture of one of Mary's cats called Rufus.  He pretends he is a big Lion wandering around the Savannah.  Unfortunately he is not so brave and runs away when he sees a chicken.   



Night Night,  Betty,

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