Warwickshire Badger Group

Did you know? Badgers have a layer of skin that is adapted with loose tissue, allowing their skin to rotate freely around their body 360 degrees! This adaptation, combined with skin up to 3mm thick, provides exceptional protection against injuries. Studies of badger skin have shown it’s about twice as thick as similarly sized mammals and has an unusually high collagen density. This has helped to explain their survival success across varied habitats and against different predators. 👏🦡

🌍 Buffalo, Bears, and Wolves: The Future of Wildlife Conservation 🌍

Are you passionate about wildlife conservation and indigenous rights? This is an event you won’t want to miss! On Tuesday, 29th October 2024, we are honoured to host Dallas Gudgell, Wildlife and Tribal Policy Director of IWCN, at our Autumn Open Meeting at Barford Memorial Hall.

Dallas will share insights from his work on the Tribal Heritage and American Bison, Grizzly Bear, and Wolf Restoration and Coexistence Act, a landmark piece of legislation that is currently passing through congress and aimed at ensuring the protection and recovery of these iconic species.

Much like wolves, badgers in the UK have endured persecution and habitat threats for years. Dallas' talk will shed light on the universal need for legal protections and recovery efforts for vulnerable species, both locally and globally.

📅 Date: 29th October 2024
📍 Location: Barford Memorial Hall, Warwickshire
⏰ Time: 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm

Book your tickets now to avoid disappointment:

WBG Autumn Open Meeting Join us for a compelling discussion on the reintroduction of wolves in the US, exploring wildlife coexistence, Indigenous wisdom

🌿✨ Join Us for a Special Evening of Conservation and Culture! ✨🌿

We are excited to welcome Dallas Gudgell, Wildlife and Tribal Policy Director at the International Wildlife Co-existence Network, for an inspiring talk at our SpecialAutumn Open Meeting on Tuesday, 29th October 2024, at Barford Memorial Hall.

Dallas, a fierce advocate for indigenous rights and wildlife conservation, will guide us through the monumental Tribal Heritage Restoration Act—a groundbreaking bill introduced to congress that is set to change the future for keystone species like the American Bison, Grizzly Bears, and Wolves.

Just as badgers in the UK have faced both legal and illegal persecution, wolves in the US have been subject to similar challenges. This event offers a chance to explore the parallels between protecting these vital species and the importance of coexistence with wildlife in both our local and global ecosystems.

📅 When: Tuesday, 29th October 2024
⏰ Time: 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm
📍 Where: Barford Memorial Hall, Church Street, Barford, Warwickshire

We are expecting a larger turnout for this event so you will need to reserve your place. The event is free and we welcome newcomers who want to know more about biodiversity and wildlife conservation.

Book your tickets here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wbg-autumn-open-meeting-tickets-1012593653877

Herds lose their OFT (officially tuberculosis free) status and bTB rises in spite of over 200,000 badgers killed since the cull began! Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, all affected… traditional badger killing counties! Sign our call to audit the badger cull now 👉 https://savemetrust.co.uk/our-work/stopping-the-badger-cull/

‼️ Brian May documentary shows Government and its agencies are letting everyone down on bTB.

Government departments are not fit for purpose and need a complete overhaul to end misinformation and confusion about the bovine TB crisis for farmers.

"Whether you care about badgers should be immaterial: you should still be outraged.

We’ve had over a decade of a government department systematically and deliberately misleading farmers, taxpayers and parliamentarians."
— Rosie Wood, Chair of Badger Trust

“It seems that Defra and APHA are not fit for purpose; they have failed farmers, and they have failed our natural world, especially badgers.

They need a complete overhaul, or they will keep making the same devastating mistakes again and again, with no respite for farmers, cows or badgers."
— Peter Hambly, Chief Executive of Badger Trust

We say it like it is. Read more > https://buff.ly/4cCtZGC

🌟 Support Badger Trust! 🌟
Please help us win £5,000 of vital funding to protect our nation's badgers by nominating us in the special Climate and Environment Draw 🦡!

It won’t cost you anything and only takes a moment. Your support can make a huge difference to our work!

🕛 The draw closes at midnight on Friday, 16 August, so act fast!
👉 Visit movementforgood.com and nominate Badger Trust https://buff.ly/2WOSv2z

Thank you for standing up for badgers! 🙏

I just nominated a charity to win £5,000. You can nominate your favourite too. I just nominated a charity to win £5,000..

PRESS RELEASE TO SHARE :

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]

BREAKING Legal challenge launched against granting of badger culling licences against scientific advice

Badger Trust and Wild Justice argue Natural England issued licences unlawfully to maintain farmer confidence rather than control disease

Read statement in full > https://buff.ly/4fEyZgs

As Craig was a founder of the WBG 35 years ago, and a continued member of our committee, we are very proud of the work that he does against Badger persecution. This award is richly deserved. Congratulations Craig.🦡🦡🦡

Craig Fellowes, the Wildlife Crime and Training Officer for Badger Trust and a resident of Warwickshire, has been awarded an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours List.

This recognition is a testament to his unwavering dedication to wildlife protection.

The award reflects 40 years of commitment to fighting wildlife crime through a police service and training career, work with the National Wildlife Crime Unit and his present role at Badger Trust.

Craig is a great friend of the badger and has now trained every police force in England and Wales to recognise and record crimes against badgers, helping them secure successful prosecutions.

Craig’s expertise is needed more than ever as badger baiting gangs and other criminals continue to persecute this wonderful animal.

Craig said:

“This is a great honour for myself and everyone who has supported me in my work fighting crimes against wildlife. Nature needs protection, and I hope this award shows how important this work is.”

Peter Hambly, Badger Trust Executive Director, said:

“This honour is well deserved as Craig has committed his working life to protecting wildlife. Badgers are one of the most persecuted of all species and Craig has trained hundreds of people from police forces, local badger groups and other organisations to detect and prevent crimes against them.

Craig’s vital work has made a real impact and led to many prosecutions of people who are out to harm badgers. Well done, Craig, and thank you for all your work helping wildlife.”

https://buff.ly/3VL80bu



Image is Craig Fellowes MBE in woodland, training a local badger group to recognise and record signs of badger persecution

🦡There has never been a more urgent time to help badgers. Join the clan today and support badger conservation and protection. 🦡

********************************************************************
Figures from last year's cull have been released and they make for depressing reading. We've now seen over 6,000 badgers needlessly slaughtered as a result of government policy.

Your support will help make all the difference. Warwickshire Badger Group is part of a national network of badger groups and organisations. We are also officially affiliated with the Badger Trust which is the national umbrella charity. Together we all campaign hard for the protection and conservation of badgers.

📌For just £12.00, your membership will help us to carry out valuable work throughout the year including rescuing injured badgers, rehoming orphaned cubs, vaccinations, lobbying and campaigning and raising awareness of badger conservation issues through events and talks.

As part of your membership you will receive our quarterly newsletter Sett Piece, packed full of information and fascinating facts. You will also receive regular updates via email. Our in-person Open Meetings are hosted four times per year with guest speakers who share their expert knowledge on a wide variety of species.

🖊Join today and make difference. Simply complete the online form at: www.warwickshirebadgergroup.co.uk/get-involved