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Wrongly blamed for the spread of bovine tuberculosis … butchered on Britain’s roads … victims of the cruel practice of badger baiting … there’s no denying that times are hard for the British badger.


Bob, from Cornwall Badger Rescue has had a difficult winter out on the road rescuing badgers from all manner of bad situations.  In the past we’ve brought you tales of happy badger cubs; rescued, weaned and released back into the wild…but the reality of life as an animal rescuer means you experience far more of the bad times than the good.

“I’ve seen all sorts this winter,” Bob explains, “I rescued two cubs last fortnight but they wouldn't stop having fits and had to be put down.  There’s another cub in the house and adult in the barn doing fine.”  Bob’s daily battle is getting to the animals in time and hoping that they’re in a good enough condition for him to have a positive impact on them. 

As if the threat of a cull wasn’t enough to concern animal lovers everywhere, Bob says he’s increasingly involved in assisting police with criminal cases involving badgers.  There have been recent incidences of snares with fishing hooks being found in the countryside designed to capture live animals for badger baiting - in these events badgers often having their backs broken and are helpless as they are torn to pieces by dogs.

It’s not just criminals capturing badgers to torture them; Bob was recently called to a case where he found just the skin of the badger remaining… the rest had been taken away almost certainly for human consumption. 

The other great danger for badgers is the construction industry.  He routinely tangles with building contractors who have ploughed through badger setts causing disruption, death and injuries.  When confronted, they simply claim they didn’t know badgers were living there. 

Thankfully the police have been proactive in cracking down on crimes against badgers and seek the expert advice of people like Bob, while reminding the public to keep an eye out for setts and reporting violations.  Bob has begun appearing on radio to comment on the plight of badgers in the West Country, highlighting the problems he faces.

The job of rescuing animals stretches far beyond the typical 9-5 day and can involve seeing some of the worst treatment of creatures imaginable.  Network for Animals is proud to help fund Bob’s vital work in the countryside battling on the front line of badger rescue.

The Stroud 100 are a group based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, who are mobilising opposition to try and prevent a badger cull on local land.  The founders, Nick and Jeanne Berry, have worked tirelessly to collect members of the public, local celebrities and the town council together in a unified group to stop the cull.  We got in touch with them to hear their story and see if the model of opposition they created could possibily be replicated in other regions where culling is set to take place.  What follows is a guide they produced outlining their background, their objectives and their methods for gathering support for their cause.

Why we wanted to get involved
We’re very privileged to live in a beautiful part of Stroud in Gloucestershire surrounded by nature and wildlife including deer, squirrels and badgers. We like all animals but we became particularly fond of the badgers because over several years we even had a badger coming into our house through our cat flap whenever the weather meant food was short. He’d steal anything from a Christmas pudding to a sack of carrots from our back porch.

When we heard about the proposed badger cull as a means of stopping the spread of TB in cattle we were horrified to think that badgers could be shot on or near to our land. We both felt concerned about the disease in cattle but we couldn’t stand by and do nothing so we started to research the issues to see what we could do.

Stroud is a vibrant and compassionate market town and is always engaged in topical issues of the day. As a result we went to a public meeting looking at the issues of TB in cattle, its causes and how it is spread and could be controlled. One of the speakers was a recently retired government research scientist who has spent his life looking at the way badgers live and their role in the spread of TB in cattle.  Hearing him was the springboard to our plans as he convinced us that the science just doesn’t add up and that a cull would make matters worse.

What we wanted to achieve
We started in November before the pilot cull sites were announced. Having read the DEFRA guidance we decided that if we could succeed in getting large numbers of local landowners signed up across the Stroud District it would make it a logistical nightmare for any cull to go ahead locally as each and every objector with land must be kept outside of the cull. We knew that the guidance talked about having at least a 70% sign up for any cull to go ahead but we felt that if we could get together enough names of landowners and people with badgers in their gardens to sign up it would just become too difficult and unpopular for the District to become part of the cull.

Our initial 2 objectives were to protect badgers in our own area and if it looked like our idea had merit then to encourage others in other towns to set up similar groups. We’ve made good progress on the fist point but have not made any progress in getting others to set up similar groups yet although we remain hopeful.

What we did
We decided we would sign up both landowners, ie those with more than a ¼ acre of land and also those who had badgers going through their garden. This covered both the groups of landowners we most needed but also got other local people involved where they had direct links with badger.

We started by contacting our very well respected local Wildlife Trust who had been actively involved in vaccinating badgers on their land. After some consideration they agreed a form of words to offer their support without actively backing our campaign. This proved invaluable in getting wildlife fans who were initially  uncertain on who to support. We then contacted as many neighbours, friends and likely supporters who we felt met the criteria. This was followed by letters to our local papers. All this was quite hard work but only brought in a handful of supporters. Fortunately a young supporter had spotted our correspondence in the local papers and put together a blogspot for us so that we could use weblinks rather than attachments when we emailed people. This proved a great boon and along with a Facebook page this really helped us communicate with people both locally and nationally.

Other things we’ve done to find supporters:
• Made contact with local badger groups and their supporters
• Issued lots of press releases to our local papers and agreed to do follow up with a couple of national papers
• Written letters to very local parish magazines, one of which resulted in our local author Jilly Cooper, signing up
• Regularly updated our Blogspot and Facebook pages
• Found out how much land our District, Town and Parish Councils own, manage or control and then written to them asking them to seek to pass a motion of support for the Stroud 100, refusing to allow any culling on their land
• Contacted local celebrities asking them to join. This resulted in our local football club lending us their badger suit which is their mascot!
• Dressed in a badger suit on market day in the town centre and touted for supporters
• Gone door to door in areas where we thought people had land attached to their houses
• Made “cold” telephone calls to people who others have suggested might become supporters

We do hope that you will set up a similar group in your town, especially if you live in the proposed pilot cull areas. We’d be happy to chat and help you get started.

Visit the Stroud 100 website to get involved. 
 

Lots of people have been in touch asking what they can do about the proposed plans for a pilot cull of badgers in England due to begin next summer.  Network for Animals has been working closely with the Badger Trust and liaising with campaigns groups so that together our voices can be heard in unison on this issue.

In order to have the greatest impact on the government's decision whether or not to go ahead with their controversial plans, we recommend that you visit the 38 Degrees website and register your opinion there.  This website has had great success in forcing the government to make U-turns on controversial policy decisions and we feel has the strongest chance of attracting attention. 

By writing to your MP you can also make your opinion heard.  A short message outlining why you are opposed to the plans can make a big difference.  If they haven't already, urge them to sign Early Day Motion 1591, which is an EDM against the badger cull. Visit They Work for You to find and contact your MP easily. 

To keep up to date with all our latest campaigns news and calls to action, please sign up to our e-mail list.

On 26th May I traveled to St Ives to visit Cornwall Badger Rescue and deliver our Network for Animals grant.  While there I had the opportunity to meet two lively badger cubs who were being reared in Bob’s living room.  Winnie and Wanda, as I was told they were called, had been rescued after their mother was killed by a car.  It was hard to imagine these excitable cubs in the dreadful state Bob described, but here they were, healthy and approaching a time when they could successfully be rehabilitated into the wild.  In the following extract Bob describes the process of rescuing and caring for the two badger cubs. 

WANDA
8th May. Penryn.

The RSPCA responded to a call at the Tremough Campus where three badgers had been seen in some difficulty.  However, by the time we were involved only one was still present, found hiding under some shrubbery.  We agreed to take it into care and the officer kindly brought it over to us.  On arrival, this casualty proved to be a cub, 10-12 weeks old.  She was in very poor condition, every inch of her full of fleas, her skin dry and scaly, her face covered with scratches and a cut on one ear.  She was quickly sprayed to solve the parasite problem, which made apparent just how thin she was beneath her fur.  We settled Wanda in a cosy bed made up in a puppy crate and gave her the time to recuperate.
 
WINNIE.
12th May. Penryn.
Gardening staff in the grounds of Tremough Campus found a second cub, also in a very bad way.  In the interim, the staff had found the mother badger who had sadly been killed after being struck by a car.  The cub was treated for fleas then reunited with her sister.  Winnie developed an abscess in her paw from a puncture wound into the pad which needed antibiotics, then suffered a tummy upset which was also treated by the vets.  Despite these setbacks, the cubs did really well, gaining weight and improvement with the skin and coat.  They soon transformed into lively, naughty little badgers - just how we like to see them!  Once recovered, arrangements were made for the cubs to have blood and faecal samples taken at the vets to be analysed in the lab.  The tests checked for Bovine Tuberculosis and Coccidia, which thankfully both cubs came back negative for.  The all clear meant that on June 11th we were able to take Winnie and Wanda to commence their rehabilitation into the wild at Secret World wildlife rehabilitation centre.