Betty has a Broken Heart

Hello Hupeople.  Betty has a broken heart .  I can hardly bear to tell you why.

You know that Mr Gove is killing 42,000 Badgers this Autumn?  Well, one of these is my favourite cub Bryony.  

I know that parents are not supposed to have favourite cubs but we all do.  Perhaps it is the naughty ones that we are specially fond of because we hold them in out hearts to try to keep them safe from their mischief. 

You might recall that Byrony got caught in a trap last year but some wonderful Hupeople helped her escape and she came home to us.   They are out there in the countryside in the dark saving my Badger friends while I write this, but they can't save them all.  Bryony loved peanuts just too much ......

and those nasty Humen put nuts inside a trap and Bryony just couldn't resist the smell.  So now she is shot dead by the flash-bang sticks and has a label like this:

Even more sad is that she was carrying little cubs inside her waiting for the spring when they would have popped out like naughty little Bryonys:

This killing of my Badger friends is an everyday reality at present, all over the countryside  from the West Country, to Cumbria.  Every day Badger families are torn apart by the wicked Humen with their flash-bang sticks who enjoy killing and want to make £50 for every Badger they shoot. 

But more wicked than the Shooters are the Hupeople in DEFRA and most especially Michael Gove.  They all know that the Badger Kill-Cull is unscientific and cruel and yet they carry on.  Mary and other even more clever people like the Zoological Society have told Mr Gove that killing us Badgers is wrongheaded and cannot work. We have given DEFRA a kinder and more effective strategy but they will not listen,  because they are in the pockets of the NFU who hate Badgers.

Mary and I both have water coming out of our eyes but we will try to carry on writing a bit more of our BLog and let you know about some happier matters. 

We visited DEFRA on the last 2 Thursdays and, on the first of these, two of Mary's friends came to play.  Here is their picture.  As Hupeople can't grow fur they wore body coverings with pictures of me on them. 

They are very good at making big signs and they made one specially for me. 

                                                                  Here I am with the lovely sign.

 It was really nice to have their company.  I do hope they will come again

Loads and loads of Hupeople had their picture taken with me and lots of them promised to Tweet me, whatever that means. I played Hide and Seek with a Hucub around a tree. 

Two DEFRA Humen came by and one of them said, "Oh my God; that last tab of LSD must have been pretty strong because I am having some amazing flashbacks; I just saw a huge Badger!"   I have no idea what he was talking about but I hope that's a good thing.

I promised that I would tell you about Badgers and Hedgehogs but I am too sad.  What I will say is that in a recent piece of research they have shown that in some areas where there no Hedgehogs there are no Badgers either. It is the Hupeople who are destroying both of us with their farming and their housing and their fences and their cars. So I wish Hupeople would stop yelling "Hedgehog Killer" at me and then running away and not listening to the science.  Then again, truth doesn't seem to matter much to some Hupeople. 

Mary has been causing mischief in her village by saying at her meeting last week that the shooting of Pheasants for sport is wrong and cruel. Particularly when they use poison to kill the Fox cubs and the Buzzards; apparently that is illegal but they do it anyway. We found a Pheasant that had been shot.  A Human was kicking it.  Mary tried to save it but it died. She took a picture of it before I ate it.  

She thought it was very beautiful; I thought it was tasty but had too many feathers.  Since the Hupeople don't eat most of the Pheasants they kill I might as well benefit.

It is the time of year when Badgers have to eat loads of food to carry us thought the winter.  The Holly trees have more berries than I have ever seen and Mary says this means it will be a very harsh winter.  

Any excuse to eat lots.  The trouble is, I can hardly get down my sett. I have become a very fat Badger.

Mary was very busy this week and she gave 4 talks to a school to 100 older Hucubs on the ethics of how Hupeople treat Animals.  She talked about Human Rights and Animal Rights and Racism and Speciesism.  She also told them about the Badger Kill-Cull and said that although Badgers do have Rights because they are a Protected Species, that doesn't seem to help us much as everyone seems to want to kill us!

I am not ending my Blog on a positive note because I am so very sad about my Cub Bryony.  Mary is going to put a link to a video from Change.org on the internet which shows the reality of the Badger Kill-Cull.  Neither Me nor Mary has looked at this because it is probably going to be too upsetting but if you want to know more then do take a look:

The reality of the Kill~Cull

Night night all kind Hupeople.   I hope that all the wicked Hupeople have horrible dreams and get bitten by fleas.

Betty. 🐾🐾🐾

Betty Goes To Birmingham

Hello Badger Fans. Betty here.

What a jolly time we had in Birmingham at the Conservatory Party Conference.  Some of my Friends were worried about a Badger being surrounded by Tories but I was safe with my  bodyguards.   These old fashioned ones: 

And these more modern ones.

I think I met some really famous Hupeople but they all look the same to me... Some of them did tell me who they were such as Alison Carter  from the BBC Radio 5 Live who is a really intelligent and kind Huwoman.  

  and there was a man who writes for The Spectator, and I might have spoken to Sajid Javid, but he was incognito...

I got a mention in The Guardian and from Matthew Paris in The Times, but he was a bit dismissive of the nuts and obsessives hanging around the outside of the conference. . Obsessive ? Moi?  Mary wrote to him and told him that we were just passionate trying to bring the irrational and cruel Kill Cull to an end.  

There were Hupeople protesting about all sorts of things and we became chums and I have to admit that there were a couple of quite strange Characters there. There was a very odd Human playing loud Irish music and saying that Christ will soon come and sweep all politicians from power.  That Christ sounds like a wise Human; I would like to shake His/Her paw when He/She comes. 

It was good to meet again the anti-nuclear man with his Dog who we met in Man Chester last year

Several recognised me from my London Vigil, calling out "It's the DEFRA Badger".  

I also met Hupeople working for HS2. That is a very fast tube on wheels and rails that will rush around the country, sometimes underground like a Badger, moving Hupeople from one place to another very very fast.  Some Hupeople don't want HS2 and they were protesting outside the Conference.  I was worried that the HS2 would kill the Badgers with their fast metal tubes but they told me that they were looking after the Badgers and the newts.  Here is one of the nice HS2 Huwomen who gave me a big hug:

The best thing about Birmingham is the West Midlands Police who are lovely and kind and we had a lot of fun.  I wish I could remember all their names.  They all took pictures of me.  

I asked the Police with the big guns to look tough while I took their pictures but they couldn't stop laughing and didn't look mean at all. 

Another good thing about Birmingham is the Hupeople who did so much for me and Mary when we got lost or needed a drink. They talk in a different way from the London Human but it is a nice sound they make. The other good thing about Birmingham is the big boxes on wheels called Buses, which are very fast and black and on time.  Me and Mary couldn't find our Bus stop so two inspectors escorted us to the right place and one travelled with us on the Bus to help us buy a ticket to ride to make sure we didn't get lost. This is a Bus:

And  this is a Metro which  is like the London Tubeworm but doesn't go through a tunnel. 

I hung around outside the Conservatory Party Conference in a building called the ICC for 3 days.  Many of the Tories said they were on my side but there were a few very nasty Humen.  One said that he wanted to gas me and all the other badgers in the country.

A horrible Humwoman shouted at me about TB and several shouted at me about hedgehogs but were very rude and would not stop and let me put them right about Badgers' innocence in these matters.

I see that Mrs May did some dancing at her Tory Party.  I think she dances very much like a Badger.  I wonder if she has been having lessons from a Badger

As well as me, there were a lot of Hupeople protesting about the Conservatories.  There were Waspie women who are sad because the Government took their pensions and, like Mary, they have to take in Lodgers or sell Kidneys to pay their bills.  You can recognise them because they wear purple:

Then there were the people protesting that the government was stealing their benefits and giving then something else instead called Universal Credit.  Some of these Hupeople moved around on wheels possibly because they had already had to sell their body parts or because they were ill.  Here they are: 

You probably won't be surprised to hear that Mr Gove didn't make it to tea with me and Mary.  But Mary will write to DEFRA again today.  She has a Plan to get rid of Cow TB and he really should listen.  Three of the famous Tory people we met said that DEFRA is in the pockets of the NFU- that is the group of farmers that live next door to DEFRA in Smith Square. 

Although we were very tired after standing around for 3 days we are very glad we went because we met so many who were kind to me, a humble Badger.  So many Hupeople said that the Kill-Cull was immoral and unjustified and they will do what they can to keep it in the Public Eye.  I had lots of Badger Hugs.

I took the family with me to Birmingham and left a few of the cubs behind.   They wandered off to find mates- well they are getting to the age now where they need to move to new setts and make their own cubs.  One little Hucub fell in love with one of my cubs and tried to run away with her.  When I roared at her she was so scared:

But she promised to look after the cub and they went home happily together .

Mary described Birmingham as a beautiful place, a bit like Venice with canals and old buildings.  

People in Birmingham like building and digging.  They dig deeper holes than badgers but they cheat because they haven't got big claws like us and use huge digging machines instead.  They also build some very tall setts that almost touch the clouds:

. 

There is so much I could tell you about the Wonders of Birmingham but what we all really want to know is whether Betty Badger made any difference in going to meet the Conservatories. I hope I did touch some Hearts and Minds.  

Today is National Badger Day.  Please think about us and tell everyone how we are being shot in the Kill Cull.  So many Hupeople don't know it is happening. And please drive carefully at night and look out for Betty and her friends who may be playing in the shadows.

Night Night and Happy Badger Day.

🐾🐾 Betty 

Betty gets a new Bag

Hello Betty Badger Fans,

I was a bit angry when I last wrote my BLog. I wanted to bite Mr Gove.  But you may have noticed that Mr Gove has been absent from my life in recent months so I haven't had the chance.  Remember how I used to see him every week outside DEFRA and he used to say hello? I think he is too ashamed to meet Betty Badger now since he has ordered the killing of 41,000 of my friends.   Here is a picture of Mr Gove and a Badger:

I am really excited to be going up to the Conservatory Party Conference in Birmingham on Monday.  I have asked to have tea with Mr Gove, but I don't think that has been arranged yet.  Maybe it will be a last minute surprise. Mary's MP Grant Schnapps says he is looking forward to seeing us both.

In Birmingham I am going to meet a Huwoman called Lorraine who is a founder of the Conservatory Animal Welfare Foundation.  She is very nice and has tried to convince me that some Tories like Badgers.  This is her picture:

She is a friend of Zac Goldsmith, also a Conservatory who likes animals.  Here he is: 

Do you remember my nice red bag that Mary bought to carry me to Man Chester last Conference? 

Well it has been to London Town every Thursday since then and got very holy and the final straw was when Mary tried to take her cat Rufus to the vet in it and he tore his way out. This is Rufus who is very fond of bubble wrap.

So we have been littering London with Mary's lunch including Bananas, and Peanut Butter and Marmite sandwiches.  She has bought another red bag to look smart when we go to Birmingham- because we Badgers don't like change .....

The Badger Kill-Cull has started and Mary is crying every day when she reads the reports from her brave friends in the Kill Zones.  Yesterday her friend sent her news that the rare white Badger had been shot.  Here is a picture of a white Badger Mr Lumpy took :

Also, a friend found a dead Badger thrown into a field of sheep- so much for Biosecurity said Mary.

Some of you clever Hupeople might have heard of the Zoological Society of London, known to many as ZSL.  Well, yesterday they produced a report critical of the Badger Kill-Cull and will be submitting it to DEFRA.  But we can guess that they won't take any notice.  Here is a link to the article: 

ZLS Report on Badger Cull

Mary has been busy writing to DEFRA rebutting their Weasel words.  She thought she was  communicating with someone called Mr Comms with the initials T B then I pointed out to her that maybe she wasn't writing to Mr TB Comms but to a department called TB Communications. She felt a bit silly...

With a bit of help from her friends, particularly one called Unknown,  Mary has a solution for getting rid of Cow TB. There is a TB vaccine for Cows but the EU said that Britain was not allowed to use it.  If it did then they wouldn't be able to export Cows across the sea to Europe.  I am not sure that Cows like to go all that way across the sea on ships from their families - I bet the Farmers didn't ask them.  Anyway we know that all the new outbreaks of TB happen when Cows are moved out of the TB Zones to clear Zones and take TB with them- nothing to do with Badgers.  All DEFRA needs to do is vaccinate all the Cows in the TB Zones and in the Edge Areas round them and not allow them to go anywhere, but stay at home on their farms. These Cows might have TB anyway because the test they use to see if they have the disease is only around 50% accurate.  This is a Cow, or maybe a Bull; either way, we Badgers keep well away from their hooves:

They can also vaccinate the Badgers in those areas and there are volunteers who would be happy to do that.  The Cows in the TB-free areas who are not vaccinated could still be sent away. They also have to improve that thing called Biosecurity and that includes not allowing those Bulls who travel around the country mating with Cows as they are probably spreading disease.  Also they must stop hunting with hounds.  60% of the hounds of the Kimblewicik Hunt were infected with TB and were scampering around 6 counties spreading disease.  Here are the Hunt Dogs:

Today I visited three DEFRAs-  Nobel House, Staff entrance in Great Peter Street and Marsham Street.   I had lots of waves and smiles and thumbs up in support of my little protest.   Last week one of Mary's friends called Richard came by to see us after a Chamber Concert. Mary explained that wasn't a pot that you put under a bed to wee into - that's a chamber pot- but an event where Hupeople sit around listening to other Hupeople making a lot of noise with their mouths and lenghts of string tied to bits of wood or metal.  The noisy people are known as Choirs and String orchestras.  We Badgers can make a lot of noise too.  Mary just found on the Google Oracle that we Badgers make 16 different sounds from Churrs and Purrs to Chitters and Keckers and Wails and Growls.  See?  We Badgers are clever. 

Last weekend me and Mary went to The Hupeople's Walk for Wildlife in Hyde Park, organised by Chris Packham.  

There were thousands and thousands of Hupeople there from little children to old Huwomen like Mary - it's her birthday on Saturday and she will be even older then.  It was very wet and muddy but we were all inspired and happy to be together listening to famous singers and speakers including Billy Bragg and my mate Dominic Dyer who runs the Badger Trust.  Everyone was sad to hear what we were doing to our Animals and our Land and Chris has produced a Manifesto  to make everything better.   Here is a link to Friends of The Earth with some pictures: 

The Hupeople's Walk for WIldlife

 I have gone on a bit so had better stop now.   Looking forward to telling you all about Birmingham. 

Night Night, Betty 🐾🐾

Betty Badger and Cubs to be Slaughtered

Hello Hupeople,

Betty Badger here..... but not for much longer.  As the Badger Trust said "This afternoon Mr Gove approved the largest destruction of a protected species in living memory!."

Today Mr Gove approved  the Kill-Culling of Badgers in 31 areas of the countryside starting NOW,  They want 41,000 badgers to be slaughtered.  That is more than were killed in the last 5 years.   It makes no sense as most of the scientists and veterinarians agree.  Badgers are NOT responsible for the spread of bovine TB; farmers are, by moving their Cows around the country and spreading infected Poo on the fields. 

Mary is very upset  and I am very, very frightened that my family will all be shot and injured and suffer and die.  

Mr Gove is a cruel man.  He wants to keep the powerful landowning farmers happy by killing innocent creatures.  Most farmers hate Badgers.  He has other options but they are not as easy as killing innocent Creatures.

Well Mr Gove, I have asked you to meet with me and Mary for tea at the Conservatory Party Conference in a couple of weeks time.  I bet that you are just too much of a coward to do that. See you in Birmingham Michael.  I wish I had TB then I would bite you and infect you.  But, as you well know, fewer than 4% of the 20,000 Badgers you killed last year had TB, so It is not very likely that I have the disease. 

Mary tells me that I must stop writing now because I might say something I will regret.  She asked me to tell her friends that the scab that grew when she took her tumble two weeks ago came off today- (I ate it!)  Also, the Pimlico dog is well and his Human companion is looking better than usual.  Mary went back today to Smith Square to see some of her old DEFRA friends and they were very pleased to see her.  And she had a surprise visitor.....  I will tell you about all these things if I stay alive for long enough...

But, for now, I leave you with the Badger Trust's announcement today:

Michael Gove approves the largest destruction of a protected species in living memory

The Badger Trust has condemned the decision by the Defra Secretary of State Michael Gove to approve 11 new badger cull licences in England in 2018, bringing the total in operation to 31.

As a result of this major expansion of badger cull, 40,892 badgers could be killed by the end of 2018, more than during the last 5 years of the badger cull combined. 

Despite a huge increase in the number of badgers to be killed, the Government has yet to provide any reliable evidence that badger culling is having any significant impact on lowering bovine TB in cattle in or around the cull zones. 

With no effective independent monitoring of cull contractors, the Badger Trust is also increasingly concerned that badgers will die long painful deaths due to the continued use of controlled shooting, a culling method which is condemned as inhumane by the British Veterinary Association.

The Badger Trust has already raised serious animal welfare concerns with Natural England over the trapping of badgers for up to 12 hours in cages in the heat wave in Gloucestershire and Somerset, under existing supplementary cull licences which have been operation since June.  

Responding to the announcement of the new badger cull licences the CEO of the Badger Trust Dominic Dyer said,

“Despite the Met Office confirming that Britain experiencing the most extreme heat wave on record during June, July and August, which has decimated badger populations across Britain, the Defra Secretary of State Michael Gove has today given the green light to the largest destruction of badgers in living memory.

By approving 11 new badger cull licences which now brings the number in England to 31, over 40,000 more badgers could be killed this autumn bringing the total killed since 2013 to over 75,000. This could mean that more badgers are killed in the next few months then the last 5 years combined. The 11 licenses have expanded cull zones in Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire and Somerset. The cull has also been newly expanded into the areas of Staffordshire and Cumbria. 

By 2020 over 150,000 badgers are likely to have been killed as a result of the cull policy, pushing this protected species to verge of extinction in parts of Britain which it has inhabited since the Ice Age. With the public costs of the badger cull now estimated to be well over £50 million and rising fast, the Government has yet to provide any reliable evidence to show the mass destruction of badgers is having any significant impact on lowering bovine TB in or around the cull zones. 

Under the cull policy cage trapping and shooting badgers is currently costing the tax payer over £1,000 per badger. However, badger vaccination teams across Britain are now trapping and vaccinating badgers against TB for less than £200 per badger, less than a fifth of the cost of culling.  

If the government really wishes to reduce the spread of TB in badgers, it should bring an immediate halt to the cruel, ineffective and hugely costly badger cull and introduce a publicly funded national badger vaccination programme.

A national badger vaccination programmes combined with improved TB testing for cattle, tighter bio security and cattle movement controls, will far more effectively reduce the spread of Bovine TB in cattle and badgers.

This is a far better outcome for farmers, tax payers and for the future survival of badgers.

The Badger Trust

Betty's Brolly Mystery

Hello Fans!  Betty Badger here.

My last 2 Thursdays at DEFRA have been full of adventure: a Mystery Brolly,  Mary took a tumble and my Badger friends came to visit.

I am itching... not with fleas but to tell you about my Umbrella.   I am SO excited because yesterday DPD delivered me a long thin cardboard box addressed to Betty Badger.  Now, this is the first parcel or present I have ever received in my whole Badger life.  The present is an Umbrella from Jolly Brolly in black and white to match my face. The whole family couldn't wait to use it so we went straight out in Mary's garden and played with it.  

It is a mystery because there was no sender's name on it .  If you sent to please let me know in the Comments section below as I cannot sleep for wondering.  Perhaps the DEFRA staff had a collection for me because they felt sorry for me getting so wet.  Or perhaps it was Michael Gove in a fit of guilty conscience.  Or maybe I have a secret admirer.....

Well, I was so proud of my Brolly that I took it to DEFRA today even though it was going to be dry all day.  People thought it was to keep the sun off- or to get noticed.  In fact I just wanted to say thank you and show the mystery gift-giver how happy and proud I was.  Here I am with my Brolly today:

Hupeople were happy to stop and talk and take my picture today because it was sunny and I had my Brolly.  I met a lovely Huwoman called Jo and a Human called Dean.  Dean was a very clever Human but he hadn't heard about the Badger Kill Cull which tells me that I need to keep standing here to tell people.  I waved at lots of Hucubs  and shook hands with a little Girlcub called Alexandra.  I have just had a lovely message from a fan I met today who tells me that she and her friends on the Book of Faces love me.

All wasn't happiness today because on our way home form DEFRA Mary took a tumble.  Fortunately she didn't squash me!  She said it was because she hadn't had anything to eat and her blood sugar was low.  I told her that she is getting too old for gallivanting around carrying Umbrellas and a family of Badgers.  A lovely Huwoman who was about to have Cubs, judging by the size of her belly, helped me up.  Mary eventually struggled up too.  Mary was a bit worried that she had ripped her tights exposing her bloody knee but I told her not to worry since everyone seemed to be wearing torn leg coverings nowadays so, at last, she was in fashion.  Mary won't be too happy about this but here is a picture of her knees:

 Which is not so different from this which I found on the Google Oracle:

Last Thursday I had a big surprise when two Badger Friends Boris and Betsy came to visit me along with their Huwoman friend Chris.  They all do lots of work to save Badgers and other wildlife in distress and I am very proud to know them.  Here is a picture of us all:

Mary has booked us into a Travelodge in Birmingham for the Conservatory Party Conference in October. I wish I could go on a Virgin train again because it was designed with a pointy nose in honour of Badgers.... and we got free nuts:

Unfortunately Mary is going to drive .... she is not known as Stirling Moss for nothing.

We are still awaiting the announcement from Mr Gove about the numbers of Badgers to be killed with flash bang sticks this Autumn.  He is probably waiting until there is something exciting on the News so that people won't notice.  I know that Mary will have rain coming from her eyes when the announcement is made as will lots of her Badger Loving friends. 

II have just seen that someone has kindly made a comment on last fortnight's BLog about vaccine for Cows.  Mary says she knows that but didn't want to over-complicate the issue for Betty Badger and her fans by talking about the test that was supposed to tell if Cows had TB or were just vaccinated.  The EU was involved in that too.  Mary also said that the test was supposed to be ready in 2014 so delay is still the issue.  Mary is a bit under par after her tumble (in fact she just had to get her Neighbour to open a door for her because her hands have stopped working properly) but she will reply to you about this when she feels better.  Meanwhile I am giving you a link to a story about Chris Packham and some Celebrity  Badgers (like Betty!) who might be killed in the Kill Cull.

Celebrity Badgers and Cull

So we are going to finish for now but, in case you are wondering about the sad lonely dog I saw in Pimlico in the rain,  well he is back with his Human and OK.  Here is a blurred picture I look to reassure you:

  

The Dog is warm and dry and comfortable. 

Next time I must tell you about the other Creatures who live in the fields and woods around my sett.  Those rutting deer are warming up again!

Night Night!  Betty🐾🐾