People Proudly Boast Online About Badger/Wildlife Abuse

 I read an item on MSN yesterday about the RSPCA warning people to avoid grey squirrels as they might bite or scratch. The comments on this post then erupted into anti fox and anti badger comments.

People called badgers a nuisance for being in their garden and openly stated that they made as much noise around setts as they could and that over a few days the badgers or foxes moved on. They also stated how they let their children invite over friends to make as much noise in the garden as they could with the intention of driving off badgers and even blocking badger entrances into gardens and free run to their setts.

They are all describing illegal actions interrfering with bnadger and active fox dens with cubs in. Police could easily trace the accounts (I did with two) owners an initiate an investigation. But... too much hard work and even the confession online in a public forum can be dismissed as evidence.

This is the country we live in. NOT a nation of animal lovers, it never was -it is a Victorian/Edwardian chocolate box invention at a time when hunts and pro hunt supporters mocked and even got "physical" with (spat out with bile) "humanitarians". Yes, being a humanitarian was a dirty thing back then.

Badgers shot or snared and dumped by the roadside because everyone knows that drivers will not stop to check "just road-kill".

We have had foxes snared in the area but left by the road and only a post mortem revealed the cause of death. Was anything done to find out who was doing this? No.

We had an otter found dead by the roadside near afishing site. Road-kill? No. It was snared. Wildlife crime so what happened? Nothing.

We had a man set his dog onto a fox in Blaise Castle Park in front of people -good description of dog and owner. Fox torn up and thge post mortem added to eye witness reports. Action taken? None.

Another man set his dog onto a fox cub in Kingswood and killed it; and it was reported to police. Action -none.

Three foxes found one day on a local allotment that is pro rewilding and no poisons are used. Police wildlife officer went to the site and took statements. The foxes were on a compost heap 300 yards away and the allotment holders assumed the officer would take them for examination in case of wildlife crime. He would not even go and look at the foxes. He told everyone that he had "gathered intelligence" and that was it. Blind eye of the police at work and the officer never responded to messages.

It goes on and on and then we have the losses on our streets due to speed bumps having been removed and no signs about wildlife crossing or monitoring of speed of vehicles -deer, squirrels and over 270 foxes and 80+ badgers (known).

Oh, and every night across the country men and women go out to shoot and kill for 'fun' with impunity.

All of this I deal with on a weekly basis "Just foxes" and "sad about the badger, isn't it?" are responses from officials IF they respond at all.

Our fox and badger numbers are hitting all time lows and our hedgehogs are not doing much better. Hedgehogs, badgers and foxes need to be Red Listed and REALLY protected and people going out killing them for 'fun' need to be prosecuted heavily (including the off duty police officers who are in the mix).

When the public are anti wildlife and teach their kids to be anti wildlife you realise that however much you push and fight it is a losing battle.

Updating The Badger Log

 

Just to update.

I have just been adding more info to the locations of badger activity/setts in the area covered by Bristol Badger Group.

I need to make something clear.

When I state "badger activity" I mean a sighting (regular) whether regular visitors to a garden or just seen moving about an area. It means, of course, that there is a badger sett in those areas it is just that we do not know where.

The policy has always been to log activity but not go out searching for a sett or checking on them as such activity attracts the wrong sort of attention.

Unless a sett or long established clan territory is under threat we keep a low profile.

We are NOT going to build up a big map and post it around or list locations. Priority is animal welfare and safety.

This practice of logging animal species sightings but not divul;ging l;ocations is built upon field experience from 1976 and 1977 when I became a UK police forces exotic animal consultant. There are active hunting groups (shooters) which really should be banned but they are spread throughout wildlife groups online and they pose a serious threat to animals. Badger baiting has taken place in Gloucestershire and so there is extra caution.

Again, if you know of a sett message me and if you see anyone hanging around a sett you do not know please report it.

So, how many locations are listed? 56 why so many? Well you have to remember that Eastville, Easton, Filton and many other areas of Bristol were once villages and badgers lived near each village so as each village became a part of Bristol so did its badgers -trapped in a growing sea of roads and buildings.

I am not sure how big London's urban badger population is but we need to protect what we have.

Regular News and An Apprentice?

 

On more regular news: added a new badger sett location to the list and been able to advise someone on a sett they are concerned about as Bristol Counciul may be clearing up the area.

I already have some quite experience people who check on setts and if needed I can call on them to double check and confirm an active sett.

It was suggested that I needed to get a young apprentice to eventually take over the badger and other wildlife work. What's needed:

Dedication to wildlife
Understanding that you willhave no social life and holidays are a rarity (my last holiday was in 1984 and Germany and, of course, I ended up dealing with wildlife)
Have no fear of officials whether councillors, mayors or MPs/government ministers and government departments. They will try anything including threats. So a backbone (or being stupid) is needed. Able to take the official backlash at times.
The understanding that, unless a sett/clan are threatened by development confidentiality and keeping your mouth shut on where badgers are is very important.
Not be afraid of mud, heat, cold, drought or torrential rain. Weather will be youre new companion.

I cannot over emphasise the fact that dedication is needed and that social life is going to be restricted. I will wave off the need for 50 years of learning as that requires a LOT of bookshelves.  Also the person would need good teeth to snap back at officials who get threatening!

NJow I look at the list I can see why I may have a few problems.

Venting Steam

 Rather like my German and English grandfathers I will take a lot but then it becomes necessary to makle your position clear.

I was a little dubious about mentioning it before but had a third person confirm that the Badger Trust person is still telling people he is setting up Bristol Badger Group. BBG has existed and been active in protecting badger setts since 1994 when it took over from Avon Badger Group.

Firstly, call yourself Bristol Badger Group be prepared to be sued.

Let me be clear in the 30 yuears I asked the Badger Trust 8 times for help and support to stop destruction of badger setts all they did was copy and paste me the legislation. In total I think it has been 14 setts/clan territory I have had to save. Had I not been here those setts and badgers would be gone. 

Every step of the way I offered the Badger Trust the chance to cooperate with BBG and every time it was thrown back in my face because "You are not a Badger trust group". At the time it would have cost me £50 to join and what would I get for that?

"You can keep doing what you already are and we'll put your contact detail on our website"

£50 every year to keep doing what I am doing??

In the last year people from other areas have tracked me down for information and advice because the local Badger Trust group is not answering its phone or, when available, responding to emails. What is the point of 8-5 and rarely at weekends??

We are losing our badgers at an horrific rate and bad weather or an "inconvenient time" is no exccuse to "not bother".

To push a man who obviously has had no experience with badgers in the wild and has never had muddy water in his boots doing field work as THE person to insult and belittle 35 years of work while the Trust sat on its ass and did nothing is beyond a joke. A meeting for volunteer's in a waterside bar where (according to two who attended) had loud music and they could hardly hear anything is a joke. An "internet meet up". ,,,,,,

I did offer to liaise with the man but not good enough. Getting 35 years of records from me? No. From our being introduced his attitude was stuck up. As I stood there and even while I was sat at the same table as him he kept saying very loudly that he was "Setting up a Bristol Badger Group as one is desperately needed" and every time I butted in and told the person spoken to that BBG has existed for 35 years and it is going nowhere.

A Few Words On A Sunday

 

We have so far had 87 dead badgers reported in the area we cover. Although this seems high it is very likely not as high as it should be as people tend to ignore dead animals on the road and their lives are far too 'busy' on social media to actually type a quick message.

We also have people who have no idea whether they have seen a dead cat, fox or badger (in one case it was a muntjac deer!). In some cases people have no idea what the road was called where they spotted a "dead animal" and they will not be going back that way for another week.

If we sent people out to every one of these, vague as they are, the other problem is that a 30 minutes trip might revbeal nothing as the Street Clean teams were informed so they pick up the animal in question. Again, back in 2019 Bristol City (Labour) Council promised to have any dead foxes or badgers their teams collected reported to me. It is a long story that I do not want to go into again but the only official who cooperated was moved on.

We get absolutrely no cooperation or information from Bristol City Council likely out of fear it might spoil their false "Green City fighting enviromental issues" claim.

We can use statistical analysis to estimate a likely total deaths figure but I will hold off on that until December.

Based on the information received I can say that mange is not -or does not appear to be- a problem with badgers in and around Bristol. Bare or bald patches have all had mundane causes and as badgers tend to avoid mange outbreaks due to their own hygiene practices it should not be a cause for concern in the near future.

A question I have been asked a numkber of times is what happened to the two badger cubs Secret World took from Ashton Court. We hyave no idea since SW never consulted us about setts at the site and simply removed the cubs with no idea where to release them. SW considers itself above cooperating with Bristol Badger Group (in fact was very insulting and rude toward me personally at one point) or Bristol rescuers. It "canbnot come to Bristol" but then removes foxes and badgers knowing full well these are under long term study.

Population estimate for urban badgers is not great but certainly not "as many badgers as thereare foxes!" We always urge people to privately message or email locations of badgers and if they know how long they have been in an area; this is to try to protect setts from developers and other unsavoury characters. I can be messaged via FB Messenger 

Please remember:no matter what part of the country you are in if you see anyone you do not recognise near a badger sett dial 111 as better safe than sorry.

Wildlife Rescue and the Lack of Volunteers

 Sarah Mills is definitely not driving anywhere at the moment (having just undergone major leg surgery) but she might be able to find someone who could check BUT if it is an injured fox and can run off into a garden then it is not likely to be caught.

Not sure what "distressed" entails? This is the problem: despite trying to get volunteers out of any of the many thousands of people on Bristol wildlife groups none come forward to operate on a permanent basis and most when contacted were "otherwise engaged" which means nothing can be done.

We have one rescuerr in Bristol (Secret World are still saying they 'cannot' come to Bristol) who basically covers the City and County of Britol, BANES, NE Somerset and South Gloucestershire and travels thousands of miles in her work.

I have asked on Bristol Wildlife Group, Bristol Badger Group as well as Fox Project Bristol -not a single volunteer -it is almost as if people do not want to go out in all sorts of weather at a few minutes notice and see some blood or injured animal

Fox Angels has Bristol covered....by Sarah Mills.

We have both tried looking around but there is nowhere near to Bristol (rescue wise) that can help out. The one reason I stopped being as active as I was is because I found myself doing all the work with no real support. Sarah does the work solo (I am not sure whether the couple of people who help when they can want to be named?).

Biggest urban fox population outside of London, urban badger population, deer of various types and there is more support for hedgehogs (not complaining about that) than the larger mammals -or even bird species.

Being contacted after dark and after 10:00PM to look for any animal has a lot of problems including the "come into my garden I'll smash your face in!" types.

Badger Baiting and Sett Tampering

 

Badger baiting is still going on. It seems that people have decided that despite all the incidents and evidence it is 2026 and it no longer exists.

Psychopaths get their kicks from going out at night to shoot for 'fun'. Anything they want and no come backs. The even sicker ones like to see their dogs tear up an animal that cannot really defend itself and then leave the bodies for anyone to find. DO NOT think only men are involved. In both of these activities men AND women are involved.

It is why I try to plot out where setts are so that an eye can be kept on them. A sett location or area of badger activity is NEVER divulged.

If you l;ive near a sett and whether it is during the day, evening or after dark you see a person(s) near to a sett location dial 111 and report them -no one really should be hanging around a badger sett so it is always -ALWAYS- best to assume they are up to no good.

The safety of the sett and clan is far more important than making a report and finding out there was a legitimatre reason for the person(s) to be there. Bristol Badger Group does NOT go out wandering near badger setts as that attracts the wrong attention. If anyone is asked what they are doing near a sett and they claim to be from a badger group -contact the police.

Foxes, badgers and hedgehogs are already heading for extinction and the more we can protect and conserve the better.