Crowd Justice Appeal: Help Stop the Badger Cull U-turn
Please help fund Badger Crowd's legal work
Recently Protect the Wild began a collaboration with Badger Crowd, a grassroots organisation that has been challenging the badger cull for the better part of a decade. In a recent post - ‘Defra Badger Cull Consultation’ - the Badger Crowd’s authors explained how the government was planning to back-track on its plans to phase out killing badgers and had launched a flawed ‘consultation’ on its plans.
The aim of the consultation seems to be to push through decisions - made behind closed doors - that will deliberately prevent the promised policy direction to ‘phase out’ badger culling.
Catastrophic
Some of the proposed ‘plans’ are horrific and could be catastrophic for badgers.
For example, to quote Badger Crowd in a recent post ‘Help Stop the Badger Cull U-turn’:
“Put simply, the Chief Veterinary Officer, currently Christine Middlemiss who is based at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) would be given sweeping powers to designate as many new cull areas as she and apparently a group of mostly farmers and cull companies think fit. This would be based upon currently obscure assumptions about how cattle herds have caught bovine TB in any area, yet with the finger wrongly always pointing at badgers.”
In other words, it won’t be Natural England that designates killing zones any more - but the government’s own pro-cull vet and the National Farmers Union, a lobby group seemingly determined to drive badgers out of the landscape forever.
‘Unlawful’
Badger Crowd feels that this consultation is unlawful and should be withdrawn and we agree with them!
On 28th March two solicitors’ letters were sent to the government by a legal team commissioned by Badger Crowd. They expressed grave concerns over aspects of the badger culling consultation and the attempts to bring about a policy u-turn on the phasing out of badger culling.
Fundraiser
As we all know, legal challenges are not cheap to make, but Protect the Wild fully supports the work of the Badger Crowd and - as we hope much of our audience would expect of us - we are helping their Crowd Justice fundraiser with publicity and funding.
In fact, we have got the fundraiser off to a great start with a donation of £500.
Please help the fundraiser kick on from here. Decisions on killing badgers must not be handed over to the very people who want them dead!
If you’d like to donate please go to Crowd Justice and Stop the Badger Cull U-turn - please note clicking on ‘Pledge Now’ opens up options to give whatever amount you prefer.
This appeal is managed and organised by Badger Crowd. Money raised goes directly to fund their legal team.
Five minutes after launch…
Since Protect the Wild was set up we have been determined to do everything we can to end badger persecution.
We have begun a collaboration with The Badger Crowd, a grassroots support and fundraising coalition including Badger Groups and Trusts around the UK, which has led to our donation today.
Funds for our donation of £500 to the legal work of The Badger Crowd, has come from money raised through our ‘Badger Adoption’ campaign - in other words, it has come from the many Badger-loving supporters Protect the Wild now has.
In the next few weeks we will be releasing a series of short but powerful animations on the government-sanctioned killing of one of the UK’s most iconic and supposedly most protected mammals. We will be promoting those animations on here and on social media, so please keep an eye out for them.
In the meantime, we will continue to support front-line badger groups with equipment like trail cams and bodycams. We’ve already helped Kirklees Badger Group, Mid Derbyshire Badger Group, Somerset Badger Monitors, and Derbyshire Against the Cull. If we can help you, please let us know by emailing network@protectthewild.org.uk
At Protect the Wild we are campaigning against badger persecution and the ongoing badger cull and working with groups like Stand with Badgers who are dedicated to the protection and survival of wild badgers.
By adopting a badger with Protect the Wild you will help fund our efforts to protect badgers and help expose wildlife crimes committed against wild badger populations.
As an adopter, not only will you be helping fund vital work, but you will also receive an exclusive Protect the Wild adoption pack including cuddly toy, glossy photo, and an information fact sheet.
Theres more important things to be done than killing helpless/innocent badgers
I wonder why this evil subhuman witch did veterinary medicine in the first place ?
Aren't vets supposed to love animals ? She should be struck off !