  
SAVE THE BADGER! Welcome to Save The Badger – a web site campaigning against culling, trapping, snaring, baiting, or any form of persecution
of badgers. On 13th January 2010, the Welsh Assembly Government announced
that they had given the final go-ahead for a "cull" of Badgers
– we use the word "cull" here, but we feel murder, kill, or slaughter
would be more accurate words to describe their plans. The Badger Trust has mounted a legal challenge to this outrageous decision, but
despite opposition from some Welsh Assembly Members, who wanted
to at least respect the judicial process and halt preparations
until the latest challenge is resolved, the Rural Affairs Minister,
Elin Jones decided that the slaughter of badgers in Wales will
go ahead, regardless It seems there is no doubt, Elin Jones and those in the Welsh
Assembly Government who support this action are determined, bullish
even, to carry out the slaughter of badgers in Wales. Why? Well, you may rightly ask. Would it possibly be because a
number of Welsh AM's live in rural constituencies and want to
appease the powerful farming lobby – a life of a badger, for a
vote, perhaps!? Or, could it be that the WAG are anxious to "flex their muscles";
to "show the world" that they can do what they want; to grab attention and put themselves in the media spotlight
by making a massively controversial decision like this? Of course the Welsh Assembly Governments appear to have chosen
to ignore a huge amount of scientific opinion and study which
shows that such action is not only unjust, as badgers are not
the main problem in relation to bovine TB, such a policy would
also be incredibly expensive, extremely cruel, and would not work! Rather bizarely, they have seemingly also chosen to ignore the
results the Westminster Governments own reserach into this matter
who concluded that a cull of badgers was not the best way to deal
with bovine TB. As a result of their reasearch, the Westminster
government have advocated a programme of the vaccination of badgers
and the enforcement of stricter controls of cattle as the best
methods to deal with the problem. News of the Welsh Assembly Government's decision has shocked the
world, and reaction from leading animal welfare and wildlife organisations
has been swift. The RSPCA has condemned the Welsh proposals saying
that: "a badger cull could cause enormous suffering and actually
increase the spread of disease." "the killing fields of Wales!" Many notable individuals, including Sir David Attenborough, are
also against culling badgers. Welsh writer, and environmental activist, John Evans, author of
The Red Kite in Wales, said: " They will be turning the beautiful landscape of Pembrokeshire
and Ceredigion into the killing fields of Wales! "...There is no doubt, the image of Wales has already been damaged
significantly. "The Welsh Assembly Government’s decision to exterminate badgers
places them alongside Canada with their seal cull, Japan and Iceland
with their whaling, and may well result in Wales also becoming
an international pariah in the eyes of many conservationists and
environmentalists. "Apparently, the Welsh Assembly Government's plan is to trap all
the badgers, then put them in cages so they can be blasted with
guns. I also hear they want to use cages which have a special
flooring to try to catch the bodily fluids of each badger. Well,
I'm sorry to tell them, whatever they try, whatever method they
deploy to in an attempt to tell the public that this slaughter
is some kind of un-messy and painless act, the blood of badgers
is going to be on their hands – the blood of badgers is going
to stain the green fields of Wales, literally and metaphorically,
for many years to come!..." "...Mahatma Ghandi once said that you can judge a nation by the
way it treats it's animals, kind of Wales these Welsh Assembly
politicians want to create!?" "...I feel the Welsh Assembly Government are bringing great shame
on our land. I know the people of Wales are proud of their native
animals and birds, like the Red Kite and Badger, and I'm sure
many will share my horror at the actions of these politicians.
Let's join together to defeat them. We simply cannot allow them
to carry out the mass extermination of a native species, we cannot
allow them to carry out acts of cruelty to these animals, and
we cannot allow them to damage the reputation of Wales any further. To read, in full, John's hard hitting views on the Welsh Assembly
Government's plans to cull badgers please click the link at the
side of the page, or click here. Like John, we are calling on everyone. We call on the people of
Wales, and of England, Ireland and Scotland. We call on all those
people throughout the world who care about the environment, it's
areas of natural beauty and all the wildlife to be found there.
Help us to protect badgers. Save the badger! Save The Badger was set up as an umbrella group to coordinate the campaign against
the Welsh Assembly Government's plan to slaughter badgers by the
thousand in Wales in early 2010. It will of course also fight
any similar plans by the Westminster government or any of the
other devolved powers in the UK. Please take the time to look through the pages on our site. We will try to bring you any up to date information and news
which is of particular relevance – if you want more general information,
please go to one of the other sites where you will find a lot
of background information. We will also periodically feature the views and opinions of prominent
individuals who oppose the WAG decision. We begin with a piece
by Welsh writer and environmental activist, John Evans. This is
a must read! Don't forget, we want to hear your news, and we also want you
views. We must unite together to fight this premeditated act of
barbarity. Please contact us by clicking the link at the side of the page. "The evidence is that a badger cull on a scale or level of efficiency
that seems feasible will not solve cattle farmers' problem – that
problem is truly serious. Understandably, the feeling is that
something must be done, but the evidence is that it should not
be a badger cull." Sir David Attenborough “We must not make badgers scapegoats for bovine TB”. Joanna Lumley "I say no to this or any other badger cull and I urge all caring
people to do the same. Get rid of ignorance, not badgers.” Benjamin Zephaniah copyright © www.savethebadger.com |
