Betty and Mary's 4 year Anniversary

Hello Betty Badger Fans.

On 25th August 2017 when Mary was holding her weekly Badger vigil outside 10 Downing Street I, Betty Badger, came into her life. I was introduced to Mary by a Huwoman called Heather, who is still fighting for us Badgers.  Me and Mary have been together almost every Thursday for 4 years outside Defra or Downing Street having lots of adventures, laughter and tears. We have been there in the snow, the rain and the blazing sun.  We have grown old and achy together. We have quite a following and Thursday is now known in Westminster as Betty Badger Day because that's the day me and Mary have our weekly vigil.

Here is a picture of Mary pretending to be a Badger outside Downing Street before I came along.  

She really doesn't look much like a Badger..... so it's good that I joined her. I am much more impressive. 

I last wrote my blog in late February when we were allowed to go back to London Town after Covid Lockup.  Then we hit a bit of a problem....  Mary was doing a survey for Badger setts before a proposed housing development when she was lassoed by a bramble and fell over broke her shoulder on a tree.  Her friend Tom was with her and took her the the place where Hupeople get repaired. She wasn't able to drive for 3 months, still we got back to our vigil in May as soon as she could carry me in my Betty Bag.  By then my cubs were old enough to be left on their own.  Here's me in my Betty Bag when I was on the way to the ConservaTory party Conference in Man Chester a couple of years ago. 

Everyone at Defra (apart from George Eustice) was pleased to see us back and made us feel so welcome.  Even the people in Caffé Nero across the road from Defra gave Mary a free coffee. 

Extinction Rebellion has been busy on the streets of London town and loads of Police Officers lined up outside Defra to protect the building.  

They are very kind and protected me by putting me behind their lines in case my lovely fur got covered by paint.  One of the Officers came up to me and aid how much he admired our commitment; this made us blush.. Here are some lovely Police Officers from Downing Street:

Last Wednesday I was on the BBC 1 news for several minutes.  I was outside Defra with lots of Hupeople for a protest about an Alpaca called Geronimo. This was Geronimo:

His mother Helen gave a loud talk about how he was dragged away screaming with fear from his home by Defra staff in hazard suits and then they shot him.  

Helen was very sad and also angry and she is determined to stop this happening to other Creatures.   Here she is with Geronimo:

If you have read my blog before, you will know that the test Defra uses to tell if cows have CowTB is very inaccurate.  Geronimo tested positive for CowTB with the old test and his mother asked for the more precise test.  Defra reused her request because they didn't want to admit that their old test didn't work.  The better test would have cost only £20 but it might have meant that everyone would then know that hundreds of thousands of Cows and Badgers had been shot for no good reason. Mary says that the early result of Geronimo's post mortem show that he didn't even have CowTB.  

Although it is very sad that Geronimo was shot and his mother made so sad, it has brought the cruel stupidity of the Badger Kill-Cull back into public attention. That is a good thing because the media are bored with Badgers- we are old news.. Another way of bringing the Kill-Cull back  into the news is to start shooting cats and dogs.  As Mary's very logical friend said:  

"The latest news is that cats & dogs: (a) catch COVID from humans; (b) it does not affect them much; & (c) no evidence of significant transmission from them to humans.

That sounds so familiar. Badgers: (a) catch TB from cows; (b) it does not affect them much; & (c) no evidence of significant transmission from them to cows.

Therefore the government should logically order a cull of cats & dogs."

Mary wouldn't really like that because she loves her cats.  However, although she likes dogs, she doesn't like dog owners who let their dogs eat wildlife.  One of Mary's chickens called Radish nearly died when 4 dogs came into her garden and carried off Radish the chicken.  Radish was bitten through to her spine, but has miraculously survived.  Mary shouted at the owners so loudly that she lost her voice for a few days. Here is Radish feeling much better:

Anyway, the protest was great fun because everyone called for George Eustice to resign and for Defra to be disbanded.  The wonderful vet Ian McGill, who went to a place called Afghanistan to help a Human called Pen Farthing to save hundreds of Animals, asked for Defra to be replaced with a new Office of Food, Farming and Animal Welfare- OFFAW  That's  a really good idea.  Defra seems to be run by people who hate Animals, especially Badgers.  We met a man some years ago who works in Defra and hates Badgers because he got CowTB as a child probably from drinking milk straight from the Cow.  He blames Badgers not the Cow and he might be driving the policy, along with the  National Farmers Union. 

I have been keeping clear of Mary's garden for a few weeks because there's major competition for her peanuts.  It's the time of year the Fallow Deer grow trees on their heads to impress the females and it's best to keep out of their way.  Here is a little film of the goings on at the bottom of Mary's garden last night. 

 

If my Bertie grew trees on his head he wouldn't be able to get down the sett and would keep getting caught on all the brambles.  Mother Nature sometimes does some really rather silly things.  

Mary's garden is once again full of baby Pheasants who are released by the Game Keeper from pens at this time of year.  Mary gets very sad because they are so young and look  lost, worried and confused about being dumped into the countryside with no parents to tell them how to survive. Here are some young boy Pheasants

The Humen with flashbang sticks will be killing them in just a couple of weeks time when the Shooting Season starts.  Such a short and scary life they have.  Mary tells me that fifty Million Pheasants and Partridges are shot in the UK every year- I am not sure how big that number is but it sounds huge.  And of course, to keep the Pheasants alive until they are ready to shoot them, the Game Keeper traps and kills any Animals that might eat them before they are shot; this includes Foxes, Weasels, Stoats, Buzzards and Badgers, even though it is illegal to kill some of them.  

Mary gets very very sad and angry about all this killing by the Game Keeper and his friends.  I told her that she should kill him to stop the suffering.  Mary told me that although she would like to kill the Game Keeper she is not allowed to do that because, although shooting lots of creatures for fun is legal, it isn't legal to kill Game Keepers or hunters... not even just one.  That all sounds rather silly to me.

I am sorry but I have to tell you some really sad news now.  The Badger Kill-Cull has started again and my Badger friends are already being shot.  Do your remember how George Eustice said he would be phasing out the Kill-Cull?  Well, he is a liar. 141,000 Badgers have been killed in the last seven years but this year he wants to shoot another 65,000, more than ever  before.  And he is allowing Kill-Culling in 5 new areas including Buckinghamshire.  They are getting close to my sett now and I am very scared. . I think he is trying to kill every Badger in the country and then he will bring the Kill-Cull to an end.  My heart breaks for every one of those Badgers who is trapped in a cage, tempted by peanuts and then has to wait there until the evil Humen come and kill them. And Defra doesn't even test the Badgers to see if they had Cow TB which more than 99% haven't.

I am sorry if this Blog has been a bit sad, but Mary and I are both feeling quite down after 4 years of fighting cruelty to Badgers and things are getting worse, in spite of Defra promises.  We must remember all  those lovely brave Hupeople who are fighting for us and going out at night trying to save our lives, releasing us from the traps before we are shot.  What can you do?  Write  to your MP, tweet Defra, contact the press. Do whatever you can to save my family of Badgers. 

Mary has booked us onto a train to Man Chester to visit the ConservaTory Party Conference again in October. I don't suppose they will let us in but we will do what we can by hanging around outside looking menacing  and cute..

Let us finish by cheering ourselves up with Mary's Chickens.  They are funny and naughty and make Mary laugh.  Yesterday Broccoli grabbed Mary's peanut butter and Marmite on toast from her hand and ran around the garden with it in her beak with another 9 chickens in hot pursuit. Last week they stole her cinnamon bagel and jam from her mouth.  Their latest game is to leap into the air and steal the low hanging grapes on the grape vine. 

Mary's Cat Rufus hates the chickens because they have stolen his garden.  Yesterday he decided to get his revenge by urinating in their dust bath  so the chickens now smell of Cat urine.  And people say that Animals aren't sentient!  Here is a happy picture of Rufus hiding on the roof to escape the Chickens:

Until the next time,

Night Night

Betty Badger 🐾🐾🐾