In 2013 the Tory government informed the public that they intended to roll out a badger cull across the UK after trialling two areas to test the humaneness of their chosen culling method. Free shooting they said, that’s the way to do it. Trained marksmen, they said, and monitors and plenty of humanely killed badgers, and an end to the farmer’s misery of bovine tuberculosis. And on that wonderful day, our farmers can send their cattle off across the sea to goodness knows what horrific fate awaits them in continental slaughterhouses in the sound knowledge that they have not only eradicated bTB forever, but also most of Britain’s badgers. But the good people of the UK had different ideas. NO they said, it’s cruel and it won’t work they said, and 300,000 of them signed a petition which the Government, in their arrogance, ignored. Scientists and other wildlife experts also said STOP, this isn’t right. This is so wrong and it will make things worse. But the Tories still wouldn’t listen, even to their own exert panel. And ever since then we have been fighting to save our badgers. August 16th 2014 saw the final march for badgers before The Badger Trust takes DEFRA to the High Court on August the 21st, for crimes against our stripy friends. Two hundred and fifty people attended that final rally in Castle Park, Colchester. Know because I was one of them. I listened to the CEO of the Somerset Badger Group, Adrian Coward, as he spoke of the horrors of the killing zones. He began by explaining a theory of his, as to why Somerset (and neighbouring areas in Dorset) was selected for Owen Paterson’s pilot cull. He said those areas were chosen because large game shoots and pro hunting sympathisers own huge tracts of land there, (a land mass the size of the Isle of Wight) and it would have been easy to get permission from those landowners, because killing animals is a way of life for most people in those areas. West Somerset is stag hunting country, and although it is against the law to hunt stags with packs of dogs, the bloodlust for killing has not been in any way dampened. In fact, every other household there owns a gun it would seem. Those areas certainly were not chosen because they supported huge herds of cattle with high levels of bTB. Most of the country where the pilots took place is arable farm land; crop growing, where badgers would have been hard pushed to have had contact with livestock in any great numbers. Just my own thought here, but perhaps that’s the reason the dead badgers were not to be tested for bTB. After all, we all now know bovine TB was initially a disease spread to badgers by infected cattle. If there are no cattle to pass on the infection to wildlife, it would be pointless testing the badgers for a disease they probably would never have contracted in the first place. The cull officially started on the bank holiday Monday last year, and from the very outset the Government lied to the public. We were told the badgers would be killed by free shooting, yet on the second day, the patrols found cage traps, and evidence that dogs had been used to track badgers. It must be obvious to most people now that this was always the plan long before the beginning of the culling operation started. The cullers would be expert marksmen was lie number two. Yet what turned up was a motley crew of pest controllers, hunters and lampers, who it seems, were given carte blanche to take pot shots at those poor animals. (I recall a FaceBook competition posted up on a pro hunting page before last year’s shooting began, the prize was a chance of a lifetime to shoot a badger.) Adrian went on to talk about DEFRA’s test for humaneness, which was really what the pilots were supposed to be about. Most people thought the badgers would be killed outright, or put immediately out of their suffering. Again, we were misled. The rule of the operation was to not allow badgers to suffer for longer than five minutes. Five minutes is a long time to lie in pain with a bullet lodged in living flesh. Many badgers were shot several times, and many would have crawled back into their homes to die. Visibly in tears and with a very shaky voice, Adrian read out an independent expert witness account of the death throes of one badger. The animal was shot with a rifle across a water filled ditch approximately 30 metres away from the shooter. It was not killed outright, and in spite of falling to the ground it raised its head and tried to crawl away using its front legs after lying immobile for 48 seconds. It has lost the use of its back legs. At 49 seconds the badger lifted its head. 51 seconds, it was observed lying still. It was out of view of the observer for a few seconds then at 74 seconds it raised the front part of its body again and tried to move away. At 79 seconds it lay still. The shooter had not moved from his position at this stage, but he had fired another shot at the wounded animal. At 360 seconds the badger was again out of view, and at 470 seconds it raised its head. A third shot was fired and the animal lay still for a few seconds, then it raised its head. At 708 seconds it was trying to move sideways, still struggling to get away. 751 seconds, raised its head. Then again out of view. 777 seconds it raised its head. It was at this point the shooter decided to walk to the bridge and approach the animal. At 814 seconds the shooter reached the badger and fired a further two shots at close range. Do the maths, this animal was shot three times and still the shooter waited almost 13 and a half minutes before firing two more shots to put it out of its misery. This was WITH an independent observer present. Monitoring was very thin on the ground at the cull sites and perhaps it’s best not to try to imagine other scenarios where badgers were not killed within Owen Paterson’s five minute window. It is also worth mentioning that there will be NO independent observers during the trials to this year. Imagine the fear and the pain of being mortally wounded for even five minutes. Other details were presented of two well-documented cases concerning shot badgers that were discovered by the public. One involved firearms injuries caused by high velocity ammunition. The other (which was reported to the police) may involve breaches of licence conditions; firearms certificate violations and unnecessary animal suffering.
The NFU, which also speaks for HNV Associates, denied that its members or anyone from the culling company had directed police action. The police did not actually know the sites of all of the cull zones and such was the secrecy over the boundary locations, that the legitimate duties of the RSPCA were hindered in their efforts to help potentially wounded and suffering animals. Uncertainty over the locations where shooting might be occurring presented difficulties when the RSPCA were attempting to respond to calls from the public regarding animal welfare incidents too.
For future culling, and after consultation with the police, the badger group is able to report that the NFU will definitely NOT be invited into their control room. The situation cannot and must not be endured. It is clear that David Cameron’s government is dismissive and contemptuous of the voters in the UK. Fortunately, we have the means to replace him and his cronies in 2015. But what can be done for our wildlife while we are waiting for Election Day? This was what Adrian Coward has asked us to do.
Animal lives do matter. We share Britain with the wild animals who have their homes here; we don’t own the land or them. Check out: Pilot Badger Culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire Report by the Independent Expert Panel Chair
6 Comments
B. McPherson
8/20/2014 02:45:50 am
Where on Earth did these "experts" get their training! Nature sets up an intricate web of checks and balances to make a harmonious whole. Cut one group out and the whole thing sags a little. Canada had a problem with Bovine TB, but rigorous testing and culling of infected cattle eliminated the problem. TB is a disease of poor hygiene, overcrowding and poor health. Those are all conditions present in the factory style raising of beef cattle and maintaining huge dairy operations. Tell the cattle operators to clean up their act.
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Hannah
8/21/2014 12:23:09 am
I also often wonder whether it is not the rats spreading the disease. Where there are cattle there bound to be plenty of rats because of the grains and also they suck milk. The comment of Barbara also makes more sense than the culling of badgers. The Tories are know for their hunting and shooting animals. Also hunting with dogs. They are so great with all that yet looking close they are callous and cruel in every way and nothing between the ears. That is why they put on the act of stylish way of talking and looking down on everybody but themselves
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eileen
8/21/2014 03:09:58 am
Hope today's protest went off OK and that you are all safe and well.
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Pattie B
8/21/2014 06:40:27 am
It was a positive day for the badger army, but I have to say I was exhausted when I got home. (Partly because we got the wrong train home and had to watch as it sped past our station. We managed to sweet talk the ticket inspector so he let us off paying the extra) some great speeches from Dom Dyer and Bill Oddie, but we won't know the Courts decision until September. Fingers crossed because if we can't stop the cull this time, our only opportunity then will be when we elect a Labour government in 2015.
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eileen
8/21/2014 08:29:55 am
I admire your faith in the 2015 election and hope you are right. Kudos to all of you for working so hard to try to make change - now feet up or bed :)
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PattieB
8/21/2014 08:52:46 pm
This is a long report but well with reading. It beats out much of what is said in this article. http://www.dorseteye.com/north/articles/an-overview-of-the-2013-badger-culls-in-somerset-and-gloucestershire
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