Devon Badger Group

Attention members! 📅

Mark your calendars for our AGM on Monday 2nd December 2024. As always, it will be a hybrid meeting—join us in person or via Zoom if you can’t make it!

Stay tuned for more details coming soon in your inbox and check out the latest newsletter for an overview.

🎄 Christmas is on the horizon!

Get ready for gift-giving with unique treasures from Devon Badger Group's new webstore. Discover stunning badger earrings, keyrings, and beautiful bracelets.

Prices include postage, and every penny supports our mission to help badgers.

Happy shopping! 🦡 https://devonbadgergroup.fws.store/

A heartwarming tale with a happy ending! 😄

Concerned tourists contacted Devon Badger Group about a baby badger wandering around on her own at a holiday park.

The adorable cub spent a few nights under the loving care of RSPCA West Hatch Wildlife while DBG searched for her natal sett.

With a camera set up, it wasn't long before an attentive mother badger was spotted returning to her sett with her cubs, and this little girl could finally be reunited with her family! 🦡

Stories like these are only made possible by compassionate individuals who report incidents through our 24/7 helpline: 07710 971 988. Thank you for being heroes in nature's tale!

Holidaymakers contacted Devon Badger Group with concerns over a baby badger wandering alone around a holiday park.

The young cub spent a few nights in RSPCA West Hatch Wildlife's car whilst the group searched for her natal sett. A camera was set up, and soon a female badger was spotted returning to the sett with her cubs and this little lady was finally reunited with her family 🦡

Find out how to help if you find a lone badger cub this : https://bit.ly/3UFohhZ

This is why it's so important to check on RTC badgers (if safe to do so) and report to your local badger group.

A beautiful badger was involved in a road traffic accident but we were able to come to her aid.

RSPCA West Hatch Wildlife managed to fix her up and we were able to release her back to the wild once she had made a full recovery 🦡

If any of our members would like to get involved with badger rescue, please contact us as we're hoping to hold a training session in Devon next year, or earlier if we get the opportunity.

This beautiful badger was involved in a road traffic accident when Devon Badger Group thankfully came to her aid.

She had sustained a foot injury and was unable to walk, but RSPCA West Hatch Wildlife managed to fix her up and the group kindly released her back to the wild once she had made a full recovery 🦡

Learn how to look out for the badgers in your local area this : https://bit.ly/3ZJ7laE

Get ready for an exciting fundraising auction hosted by our friends at Scottish Badgers!

From charming pin badges and stunning artwork to unique handmade ornaments and a luxurious four-day getaway, there's truly something for every taste!

Don’t miss out on the chance to snag fabulous items while supporting a great cause.

Check it out now: https://www.facebook.com/groups/994603911055508

Our Auction is off to a flying start over in our Facebook Group! Head over to browse the items and get bidding! So much lovely badger stuff, all in one place: https://bit.ly/40UVJBj

This Brocktober, consider downloading the Badger Trust's complimentary Badger Watch app.

It’s an excellent resource for anyone looking to report incidents of badger crime. With this app in hand, you'll be ready to step up and assist these wonderful creatures no matter where you find yourself.

Stay informed and take action—your efforts can make a real difference!

https://www.badgertrust.org.uk/badger-watch-app for the relevant links.

It's Brocktober!

Seven top tips to keep nature a happy place for us and for badgers!

Help protect your local green spaces so badgers and other wildlife can thrive in their natural habitats.

Learn how to live with badger visitors and leave space for them to forage.

Sign up for the next stage of Badger Trust's first citizen science project, State of the Badger, to help it understand the population health of badgers and safeguard their future.

Try Badger Trust's responsible badger-watching tips to get to know – and love! – your local badgers.

Use Badger Trust's free planning and development guides to help protect badgers and their homes from harm and avoid long-term problems.

Report badger road traffic casualties to identify accident hotspots and save badgers.

Make a difference to badgers near you — get involved with your local badger group.

Learn more at https://www.badgertrust.org.uk/national-badger-day

Badger setts - incredible feats of engineering!

Well done to the Derbyshire groups. Many groups up and down the country get actively involved in badger rescues, including our own, but this rescue was definitely a more unusual one!

Brian May, The Badgers, The Farmers, And Me

Celebrity badger supporter Brian May, has a TV show being broadcast tonight at 9pm on BBC 2.

We think it will definitely be worth a watch

BBC Two - Brian May: The Badgers, the Farmers and Me The story of Sir Brian May’s decade-long campaign to end the UK badger cull.

Vaccinating badgers more effective than culls in stopping bovine TB, study finds

Vaccinating badgers more effective than culls in stopping bovine TB, study finds Percentage of badgers with bTB fell to zero in Cornish study, raising hopes of end to cull of 210,000 badgers since 2013

Join Badger Trust in London on Tuesday 3 September for a peaceful day of action against the badger cull.

Don't miss out on the chance to make a real difference by lobbying MPs in Parliament. The recent election has given us many new MPs and new MPs mean new opportunities to create change - be a part of it!

Make your voice heard and stand up for badgers!

https://www.badgertrust.org.uk/cull-day-of-action #:~:text=National%20Day%20of%20Action%20Against,Will%20you%20join%20in%3F

CULL DAY OF ACTION | Badger Trust Badger Trust is holding a National Day of Action Against the Badger Cull on Tuesday, 3 September 2024.

PRESS RELEASE:
Documentary : Brian May- The Badgers, the Farmers, and Me.

To Air BBC Two and BBC Two Wales, 9.00pm on Friday 23 August.

Brian May: The Badgers, the Farmers and Me, is an authored, first person piece by the Queen guitarist and wildlife activist. Broadcast on BBC Two at 9pm on Friday, 23 August, it charts Sir Brian May’s journey as he looks to explore the different attitudes of farmers and those who – like himself – oppose the culling of badgers in the ongoing battle against Bovine Tuberculosis.

This new BBC documentary has been four years in the making, and will outrage British viewers more than anything since the Post Office scandal was revealed.

The film represents 12 years of research at a practical level on cattle farms in the UK. The new evidence presented is revolutionary and shocking - some will say heretical, and will eventually turn cattle farming practices upside down. You will see here, first-hand, through the eyes of farmers themselves, the monumental failure of British authorities to deal with the terrible problem of Bovine TB in recent years, and the tragically wasteful resulting slaughter of both cows and badgers.

This is the story of the journey of dedicated animal campaigner Brian May and Anne Brummer, CEO of May's Save-Me organisation, dedicated to giving British wild animals a voice. They embarked on their journey to discover the truth about bovine TB 14 years ago, when David Cameron revealed his intention to cull badgers if elected, in an attempt to curb bovine TB. Along the way, rather than fight the farmers over the killing of badgers, May and Brummer effectively became farmers themselves, joining dairy man Robert Reid at Gatcombe Farm in Devon, and his visionary vet Dick Sibley. Together they transformed his chronically infected herd of cattle into a healthy herd with certified TB-Free status. And without killing a single badger. The revolutionary methods they evolved are now known as the Gatcombe Strategy.

Over the last 12 years, almost a quarter of a million badgers have been slaughtered, based on the belief that they were spreading TB amongst cattle herds. The heartbreaking testament of the farmers in this documentary is that this policy has failed them utterly. Rates of infection and consequent numbers of cattle slaughtered are no better and in some areas worse than ever, following the cull. And the results of experiments on Robert Reed's farm, as you will see, make it plain that blaming the badgers has been a wildly incorrect reading of the facts. Of course the slaughter of more than 230,000 badgers can now be seen even more clearly as a monstrous tragedy.

How can this have been allowed to happen ?

In 2007, the famous RBCT report concluded that "Badgers can make no meaningful contribution to the control of TB in cattle". Over the last 12 years, successive governments in collaboration with the National Farmers Union have clung to the idea that they know better know better. They acted on the advice of a succession of papers published by a small group of scientists all claiming to have seen improvements in the welfare of cattle due to the culling program, or claiming that their modelling theoretically supported this idea.

May and Brummer in the documentary present ample evidence to confidently assert that the very idea that badgers are part of the reinfection process is unsupportable. The advice given to the government has been based on bad science, and amounts to an enormous red herring, standing in the way of finding a proper strategy to solve the problem.

Who is telling the truth? The pro-culling movement have had it all their own way in the media for the past 12 years. This documentary is the first time that an alternative point of view has been presented to the public.

The Gatcombe team not only solved the problem for the badgers, but offer a blueprint for the true and speedy eradication of this disease in cattle. In the 'Gatcombe Protocol' measures shown in this landmark film, farmers will glimpse hope – where all hope, among so many farming communities, has long been absent.

Speaking about the documentary, Sir Brian May said: “I don't blame people for being suspicious of me in the beginning, because, you know, I'm a guitarist. You know I'm a rock star. What am I doing? Why would I have some contribution to make?

“I came in to save the badgers. I now realise that to save the badgers, you have to save everybody because it's a mess. It's a tragic human drama where people's hearts are broken, where animals are killed unnecessarily and the problem never gets solved”

Of course some will question whether the conclusions of the documentary are wishful thinking, or some kind of unsupported conspiracy theory. But history has shown that this is not the first time that conventional thinking on a rampant disease has been proved wrong.

In the 19th century Queen Victoria's physician single-handedly solved the problem of Cholera in humans by overturning the universally held view among learned men that Cholera was transmitted through the air. It's a very similar story to what you will see in this film.

And a century before that, the British were still burning witches at the stake in the firm belief that they were responsible for our rural problems.

The tragic badger cull has from the beginning been morally indefensible, but now this film boldly claims that science has made one of the biggest and most costly mistakes in recent times - hanging on to a policy which history will see as no more effective than condemning those unfortunate witches to the flames.

"It has been a long journey with a steep learning curve. We began by studying the pathogen M. bovis, tracing its transmission routes within this herd, observing its interactions with different cattle, and identifying when an animal was infectious or infected. We discovered that cattle can harbor M. bovis for years, even passing skin tests undetected. Our research demonstrates that it's possible to manage bovine TB within your herd without worrying about an infected badger population. It's shocking that over 230,000 badgers have been killed based on flawed science. The latest government model acknowledges that they have no clear understanding of badgers' impact on bovine TB. The cull has always been unscientific, ineffective, and cruel, failing farmers, cattle, and badgers every single day." Anne Brummer, CEO The Save Me Trust

"Brian May: The Farmers, the Badgers, and Me" premieres at 9pm on BBC 2 and BBC Two Wales on 23rd August, and subsequently on BBC iPlayer.

Please support the campaign to end the badger cull - sign the petition https://savemetrust.co.uk/2021/07/22/badger-cull-public-enquiry-and-petition/

Notes to Editor
About The Save Me Trust:
The trust exists to protect the welfare and dignity of wild animals. Save Me was founded by Brian May and Anne Brummer to work on the issues affecting wildlife today. Climate change, increasing human population, destruction of habitats and pollution are the most significant factors causing the rapid decline of the creatures with whom we share our Planet. By working together and changing our behaviours, we can achieve sustainable change that supports wildlife, business and the environment, and offers every species a better future. https://savemetrust.co.uk

Media contact - [email protected]

Share and share alike! Thanks to a Somerset member for this footage. However, whilst it is interesting to see badgers and hedgehogs sharing the same food, it can also create risks....

Share and share alike! Thanks to a Somerset member for sharing this.

Whilst it is interesting to see badgers and hedgehogs sharing the same food, it can also create risks. If badgers are very hungry they will sometimes fight over it, the dominant individual getting most or all of the food. Also it is a risk for the hedgehog.

The hedgehog mush be desperate for food to put itself at risk. Their normal behaviour is to stay clear of badgers and foxes. We advise spreading the food about. It is much safer and everyone gets a bit of food without any hassle or danger.

Why not subscribe to Somerset Badger Group's YouTube channel to get notified whenever we post new content.

Share and share alike! Thanks to a Somerset member for this footage. However, whilst it is interesting to see badgers and hedgehogs sharing the same food, it can also create risks....

No photos please! When badgers give you attitude!Check out this sassy badger from Devon who's not here for the paparazzi! 😂🦡 Thanks to our member from Devon for sharing. ...

When badgers give you attitude!

Check out this sassy badger from Devon who's not here for the paparazzi! 😂🦡

Thanks to our member from Devon for sharing.



https://devonbadgergroup.org.uk/

https://youtu.be/t9rVNchGOuo

No photos please! When badgers give you attitude!Check out this sassy badger from Devon who's not here for the paparazzi! 😂🦡 Thanks to our member from Devon for sharing. ...

🎉 Incredible Milestone Alert! 🎉

Our dedicated vaccination team, made up of volunteers from Somerset Badger Group and Devon Badger Group, reached a major milestone last weekend - they vaccinated the 1,000th badger since the project began in 2012! 🦡

Huge congratulations to everyone involved for their hard work and commitment. 🙌

In addition to this amazing achievement, another 28 badgers were vaccinated in Somerset, bringing the total for the year to 83 across all the counties we vaccinate in.

With three more sites to go, we are on track for our most successful year yet! 🌟

A massive round of applause to the entire team for their outstanding efforts in protecting badgers. 👏

This year's vaccination season is going well, with a total of 55 badgers, including two cubs, vaccinated at three sites - one in Devon and two in Somerset. The successful vaccination of the two cubs from a site on Exmoor was easy as they decided to enter the cage together.

All vaccinated badgers are released back into the wild after the process is completed.

This is all made possible by our wonderful team of volunteers drawn from both Somerset Badger Group and Devon Badger Group who work tirelessly to protect and preserve these iconic creatures. Their hard work and commitment to the cause is truly commendable and essential to the success of the vaccination program!

One of Somerset Badger Group's members was lucky enough to get a space on one of Glastonbury Abbey's badger walks this year and was able to get some great photos! 🦡

Glastonbury Abbey's badger walks are now fully booked for this year. If you were lucky enough to get a space on one of this year's events, you might have seen sights such as these.

If you weren't able to get a space, keep an eye on Glastonbury Abbey's website for social media for 2025's events.

Glastonbury Abbey Badger Walk - Thursday 15th June, 2023 This week's badger walk was another great success with many badger sightings in both the wildlife area and the copse as well as a visit from the fox for the ...

We all know the importance of staying well hydrated, and for us it's easy. We have the option of tap water, bottled water, plain, sparkling or flavoured.

However, dry weather can be a serious threat to badgers and other animals, making access to water a matter of life or death for them.

If you're lucky enough to have wildlife visiting your garden, or know of a local sett, be sure to make water available. Opt for shallow bowls to allow hedgehogs to get out should they fall in. Be sure to avoid large containers as these pose a drowning risk to small mammals.

If any wild animal seems to be suffering from dehydration, make a rehydration solution by dissolving six level teaspoons of sugar and half a level teaspoon of salt into one litre of boiled water. Allow to cool before putting it out for your wildlife.

Remember, a little effort on our part can go a long way in saving lives!

Get into the holiday spirit and support Devon Badger Group without spending a penny!

Join EasyFundraising now and help raise funds for our stripy friends.

With over £80 already raised by our amazing supporters, you can make a difference too. Sign up at https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/support-a-good-cause/step-1/?char=306826&invite=f3gtdj&referral-campaign=s2s&utm_campaign=refCROtest and check out the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9_XwaxfG94 to see how it all works.

Let's make this Christmas a memorable one for the badgers!

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