Badgers - and this Disreputable Government

The last week has been terrible for badgers, and things are only going to get worse:

Tuesday 26th August: British Government quietly release plans to kill up to 1876 badgers in Somerset and Gloucestershire this year.

Friday 29th August: Badger Trust high court legal challenge against the badger cull is overturned.

Tuesday 2nd September: Badger vaccination projects are announced to be taking place around the country.

I don't approve when I see a story of vaccination being used to bury the real news of the imminent and unjustifiable murder of badgers.

Make no mistake, our nation is in uproar about what is being done in Somerset and Gloucestershire. More than 300,000 people signed Brian May's anti cull petition in 2013, but the cull continued. It claimed the lives of almost 2000 badgers, cost around £7,000,000 and the independent expert team hired to study the results described it as 'ineffective and inhumane'.

At this point, any sensible person would look at the overwhelming scientific evidence against the cull, the view of their own expert panel, the will of the people, and accept that they had made a mistake.

But not this government. Instead they fired the expert panel, and told the contractors to get the guns back out.

This cull is an abomination, which the government are pursuing at all costs and sweeping deftly under the media radar. Many still do not know there is to be a badger cull this year. It is up to each of us to share the truth. Please share the news of this imminent cull with friends and family:

http://www.networkforanimals.org/news/2014-badger-cull-given-go-ahead 

 

The Truth about Bovine Tb

The current badger cull in Somerset and Gloucestershire has divided the nation. On one side the powerful National Farmers Union (NFU), DEFRA, our Environment Minister, Owen Paterson, our Prime Minister, David Cameron and our elected dictatorship and on the other the like minded members of the National Trust, the Wildlife Trust,  the RSPB, the Badger Trust, Nature Conservation and such well informed people as Dr Brian May, Lord Krebs and Dominic Dyer.

And me.

For the TRUTH about Bovine Tb please watch this informed video of Dominic Dyer talking at the Badger March on 7th September in Taunton, Somerset. Listen to his compelling evidence that this cull is not only wrong, it is futile and ill-informed and is driven by the greed of the NFU that has completely distorted the facts surrounding the origin of this disease.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1mxVO4-U3EU

The badger cull is now likely to be rolled out to take in East and West Sussex. Mike Weatherley, the conservative MP for Hove and Portslade, has signed a Parliamentary Motion to call on the government to allow a vote in the Commons to decide on the further badger cull. Mike said: "This badger cull is entirely unnecessary......" We, the people, agree. It is time for the stench of the NFU and its supporters to be shown for what it is. A package of lies to hide the fact that Bovine Tb originated in cattle and not badgers. And yet these people want to virtually wipe out an animal that is supposed to be protected in this country of ours.

Join your local Badger Protection Group and take a stand for our wildlife. Owen Paterson cares nothing for badgers. Indeed, he wants farmers to be given the right to shoot any badger on sight. What a contemptible man he is - and he is our Environment Minister. He should be ashamed for ignoring popular opinion, but then isn't that typical of this coalition government in general?

Write to your MPs and urge them to sign Early Day Motion (EDM) 299 Pilot Badger Cull Parliamentary Assessment and Vote. Make your own MP accountable for the views of his/her constituents and not the demands of the government whips.

United, we can put a stop to this massacre of our wildlife.

Badger Cull To Start

The Guardian has learned that England's badger culls are due to begin on the night of Monday 26th August. The cull will take place in Gloucestershire and Somerset. The animal welfare group 'Care For the Wild', using figures released by Defra under the Freedom of Information Act, has accused them of not properly assessing the suffering of badgers as the figures reveal that as few as 120 out of the 5,000 shootings will be independently observed. The Information Commissioner instructed Defra to reveal this information.

The expected cull has split national opinion. Although the badger is a protected species ministers and farmers insist that a cull is necessary to stop spiralling rates of bTB in livestock. Opponents say it will have little effect on infection and will cause suffering to badgers.

Many of you will recall that Lord Krebs, one of the Government's key advisers on the issue and a world expert in zoology, has previously described the policy as a mistake. He said research showed that killing 70% of badgers in a restricted area only reduced bovine TB by 16%.

Philip Mansbridge, Care For the Wild chief executive, said: "The truth is this cull has no scientific or moral basis. Going ahead with it will give false hope to farmers, is pointless for cattle and utterly disastrous for badgers".

The NFU is making an injunction bid today in the High Court to restrict the activity of badger cull opponents. They claim that some farmers have been intimidated and harassed and therefore need protection. Opponents will challenge the legal bid claiming it will prevent their right to peaceful protest.

An e-petition to HM Government, created by Dr Brian May CBE, entitled "Stop the Badger Cull" has been signed by 264,965 individuals. No matter which side of the debate you support this is a compelling number of people who want to see the cull stopped.

The nation will, I am sure, remain divided on this one.