Badgers. They were here when our ancestors lived in caves. Long before farming began. Before cattle and certainly millennia before guns were invented.
Down in the south west of England something terrible has been happening for the last seven years. Secretly funded by the government, a team of marksmen have been scouring the countryside of Gloucestershire and Somerset to seek out badgers and kill them. Many of those badgers will have been easy to find because badger dynasties often occupy the same setts for centuries.
As recently as last September, the "cull" was extended to several other counties including Cheshire, Devon, Cornwall, Staffordshire, Dorset, Herefordshire and Wiltshire. And what's the reason for this killing spree? It's because some landowners say that the badgers infect cattle with TB. This might have happened from time to time but most experts agree that culling badgers is not the solution. A programme of inoculation would be the best way forward. Besides, the badgers were here first. Shouldn't that give them some protection?
If the news is to be believed, it seems that the government have now finally accepted that culling is not the solution. We are told that the shooting campaign has been brought to an end. We do not know how many badgers were shot in the last seven years - nor how many of them died in terror and long drawn out pain. We do not know how much the marksmen were paid and we do not know how often they used dogs to track down the badgers.
The whole programme was built on questionable premises. But more than that, to me it speaks of monstrous cruelty and noxious disrespect for the country's wildlife. Badgers are beautiful creatures that we should be cherishing - not murdering in the dead of night at the say-so of a handful of ill-informed farmers and mindless politicians.
Last Sunday night I was walking home from "The Greystones" public house at around eleven thirty. There was little traffic about and the night was still. As I turned from Greystones Drive on to Dobbin Hill I saw something scurrying down the pavement towards me, under the streetlights, passing parked cars. And as this creature came closer, I realised it was not a dog or a cat, it was a badger!
He or she was furtively sniffing the ground, motoring along on stubby little legs. Where he/she was heading I have no idea. As the badger continued moving in my direction I stayed stock still. He/she passed by within three feet of me. My heart skipped a beat. And when about twelve feet past the brock stopped in its tracks, turned to look in my direction and whispered, "Please write a blogpost about badgers my friend" before continuing that particular nocturnal journey. A magical encounter.
That's a sad story today Mr P. I hope they do start an inoculation programme. It would be more humane.
ReplyDeleteThey say that that is going to be the new approach. Inoculating both cattle and badgers.
DeleteThey're awfully cute, with their stripey faces and little feet. I don't know why people are so heartless. Badgers are just trying to survive, like all other creatures on Earth.
ReplyDeleteHumans probably brought TB into the badger community.
DeleteI've about given up hope for the human race.
ReplyDeleteAt times it really does seem that we are going down the pan.
DeleteI've never seen a badger in the wild. Lucky you!
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Guardian, at least 100,000 badgers have been killed in this cull. And ironically, they're a protected species! How the government was ever able to justify this lunacy is beyond me.
Oh, and I'm unclear on whether the shooting has already ended. The story I read said the cull "will begin to be phased out in the next few years." Not sure what that means.
DeleteThanks for that Steve. Perhaps my delight that the culling was over was premature.
DeleteThe same sort of thing has happened here except it's wolves. Grizzlies are an endangered species and they are poached at times. It seems we have a hard time living in harmony with nature. I'm glad you got to see that badger.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were in Nova Scotia we got to meet some raccoons who I know can be a nuisance but it was amazing. I also like magpies, squirrels and mice, things most people fine a nuisance but I love them, as long as they don't want to live in my house.
I saw wild raccoons and possums when I was a camp counsellor in Ohio in the seventies. What a delight! But many Americans saw them as nuisances - just a slim grade up from rats.
DeleteBadgers are part of wildlife just like rabbits, hares and foxes, mice and yes, even rats; like deer and owls and many, many more. For thousands of years now, humans have encroached on the habitat of species that have been there long before them, claiming their territory of old for their own houses, fields or pastures. While we are "nature" as well, we have become so much more empowered than those other species, shifting the balance in a most unhealthy way towards us. And we can't leave anything alone, it seems. Of course it is sad when livestock gets infected by wildlife and dies, and dramatic if it happens in such numbers that the livelihood of farmers is at risk. But...
ReplyDelete... I know from my brother-in-law, who runs a dairy farm with 500 cows, that dogs not on leashes and their feces are much more dangerous for livestock (sheep, too) than anything else. And is there a government campaign in place to cull dogs and/or their owners? Certainly not!
Well said Meike! (Cue genuine applause and cheering)
DeleteI agree with Librarian's assessment, especially the part about man having such an edge over the rest of the animal world. So much of man's interaction with other animals is based on might rather than right. You were so fortunate to have that close encounter with a wild thing.
ReplyDeleteBadgers have relatively poor eyesight but I thought he/she might have smelt the beer on my breath or the aroma of the Sunday dinner I had eaten earlier.
DeleteWhat a sad story. I don't understand some people. We have reduced wild life so much already. There is delicate balance in our world and we have destroyed most of it. Someday in the future children will only know the wild things in books. At some point after that they will only be a myth in fairy tales.
ReplyDeleteWe have a throwaway saying - "As dead as a dodo". We should pay better attention to it. The last of the dodos died in Mauritius in 1681 at the hands of visiting sailors. Forgive them Lord for they did not know what they were doing.
DeleteHear, hear. I do so agree. Enough badgers get killed on roads here (Shropshire Marches) without setting out to gas, poison, shoot them. I know of two local setts where whole families have been eradicated. How hateful it all is.
ReplyDeleteThe Shropshire Marches are beautiful, why can’t we look after our wild life too. There is enough room for everybody.
Glad to hear I am not alone in my support for the badgers. We are supposed to be living in a democracy and yet proper information about the on-going badger cull has been suspiciously sparse. The only thing we should be shooting badgers with is a camera.
DeleteIn many areas of Ohio now, bait is scattered for raccoons, to inoculate them against rabies. The disease is their greatest threat; infected they can become crazed and bite anything, including dogs and people. Raccoons are "cute" and effective raiders of food available from picnickers. And damned clever too. We finally had to block off our cat door from the clever band who could eat all the cat and dog food in one go.
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I had not considered the possibility of rabies Joanne.
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ReplyDeleteThe views I expressed about badgers in this blogpost were my true opinions. Clearly you have a different view and I suspect a very different attitude towards wild animals. I make no apology or amendment.
DeleteIf you visit the website of The Sussex Wildlife Trust you will find well-considered reasons why badger culls are a bad idea. Most TB in herds is spread from cow to cow. This is a cattle problem - not a badger problem. Go here:-
https://sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/campaign/badgers
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DeleteRemember "The Cheat", it's nice to be nice. There's no kudos to be gained from nastiness. Perhaps you need some counselling. Just an idea.
DeleteSurprise ending for this post. Here they go after wolves and coyotes once in a while I doesn't work as they are able to have more in a littler when the population goes down.
ReplyDeleteCanadians should be proud that they still have wolves. England's wolves were all gone by the end of the sixteenth century.
DeleteI don't comment but today I will.
ReplyDeleteWeaver has written about the Badgers cull and it breaks my heart. I just don't understand. "We" kill off too many animals that were here first. I live where Mountain Lions, Wildcats, Coyotes, Foxes, Javelinas and Badgers live. They were here first and we are taking over their land and homes. I have a large piece of land that I leave wild for all the critters with a small part fenced off for me and the dogs.
I support the Badger Trust (UK). I will have to look up sussex wildlife trust.
parsnip
Thanks for calling by Parsnip. Regarding wildlife, we seem to be on the same wavelength. I feel there has been something rather vindictive and narrow-minded about the British government's extermination strategy. I feel heartbroken when I hear that the badger families that occupied some ancient setts have been eliminated.
DeleteThis weekend our local paper picked up an article from The Times about Kailas Wild a Sydney tree surgeon who used his skills to help save koalas on the fire ravaged Kangaroo Island. Wild made a passionate plea for the world's disappearing wildernesses. He believes that to truly rescue wildlife we must rescue the ecosystems that form the natural habitats that allow wildlife to exist in relative safety. If we don't we will have no wildlife.
ReplyDeleteAn excellent defence of the badger, wandering around in the past I often came on to badger homes in quiet places. But the farmers have had an upper hand in the killing of these creatures. We should also be looking out for hedgehogs as well, as many are saved in our district by caring people but there is a 'death wish' by hedgehogs on the roads. Reduction of wild animals so that we can live clean lives is wrong. The hunting of foxes for some trumped up reason of 'their savage killings' needs also to be addressed. They still get killed 'accidentally' by the hunt. End of rant.
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