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The Badger Cull - Is 'Free Shooting' Humane?

Today, the Sunday Times reports that ministers are expected to shortly announce that a shocking 40,000 or so badgers were killed in 2019's badger cull.

This will represent an astonishing 20% increase from last year and shows that the Government, egged on by the farming industry, is continuing to pursue it's policy of eradicating a much-loved, native species for no good reason at all.

It shows that the Tory Party is comfortable with following an immoral strategy of mass extermination that hasn't been contemplated for many decades. Pushing a native species to record numbers of local extinctions in what was once its European heartland is beyond belief.

One would have thought in the 21st century that we'd never have seen badgers disposed of like garbage into waste disposal. However, if the official announcement is made before 31 Jaunary, it won't include the badgers killed in the supplementary cull zones of West Somerset, West Gloucstershire and an area of Dorset.
Licences for free shooting badgers here now continue until 31 January 2020 so whatever the numbers are, they will rise. Not only this but some badgers will be recorded as shot but missed; whereas as we found out again this year some are shot, make their way back to the setts and either die at the entrance or underground.

And our last word is perhaps the most appalling of all: most of the badgers will have been free-shot, a method condemned by the British Veterinary Association as inhumane but which is cheap and so is on the increase. If you want to know how some badgers die, please listen and watch our dramatic reconstruction of the shooting of one badger as documented by a monitor appointed by the Government.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGm7IcNgXyA ... See MoreSee Less

www.youtube.com

This video describes the shooting of one particular badger in 2013. There are no graphic images, but the transcript and narration show why the British Veteri...

1 hour ago ·

Video

A team went out yesterday despite the weather to carry on surveying a new area likely to cull in the Autumn.
They are a particularly hardy and determined group but even they had to call it a day by 2pm...soaked through to their pants! 😳

We’re looking forward to meeting with local people in and around Taunton later this month. If you have signed up to our Newsletter and live in Taunton then check your email inbox.

Hopefully we can add other meet-ups in other towns throughout the rest of the year. ... See MoreSee Less

2 days ago ·

Not that the rain puts off our teams of sett surveyors, but today this team chose the best day of the week so far to get out and continue surveying potential new zones.

The ground is very waterlogged so footpaths were very muddy but signs were good and more data means more badgers can be protected.

Sign up to our newsletter to keep up to date with all our work standing up for badgers, conservation & science in Somerset.

New surveyors & patrollers very welcome.

somersetagainstthebadgercull.uk ... See MoreSee Less

4 days ago ·

The lack of transparency regarding the #badgercull is inexcusable. If you are on Twitter, join others in reminding @TonyJuniper that we live in a democracy. The public has a right to scrutinise this highly controversial badger cull policy.
We need Natural England & DEFRA to release all details now. Including police costs. #badgermonday ... See MoreSee Less

6 days ago ·

As we enter the new decade, we’re not slowing down in our efforts to campaign against the badger cull and protect our local wildlife.

In the January edition of South and West Badger Protectors we take a look at what we can do right now and look ahead to the challenges we’ll face in 2020.

To get South and West Badger Protectors delivered direct to your email inbox each month, sign up at eepurl.com/dtfBxn
- mailchi.mp/3b73c2b6da8f/jan20 ... See MoreSee Less

7 days ago ·

'Filthy' animal trailer full of poo and muck on M5 seized by police

Biosecurity...anyone?!

www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/local-news/filthy-trailer-poo-seized-m5-3731000 ... See MoreSee Less

www.somersetlive.co.uk

It was described to be 'three-inches deep in animal dung'

1 week ago ·