Body cams for Somerset's badger monitors!

Protecting the Wild Equipment Fund #7: Somerset Badger Monitors

One of the UK’s most charismatic mammals, badgers are also one of the country’s most persecuted. Despite being made illegal in 1835 badger baiting still takes place across the UK. Fox hunts illegally block badger setts to stop foxes hiding underground.

And of course since the government began an ‘experiment’ in badger annihilation on behalf of the dairy industry (tearing up the  Protection of Badgers Act 1992), hundreds of thousands have been slaughtered (see ‘The biggest wildlife genocide of our time is happening right now‘). Hundreds more are killed on the UK’s roads every week.

Fortunately, there is an army of people who love badgers and are prepared to spend much of their lives watching over and protecting them and their setts. Whether individuals or groups, the majority are volunteers and receive little or no funding whatsoever.

Which is where Protect the Wild is aiming to step in. We set up the Protecting the Wild Equipment Fund to support anyone working in the wild to protect British wildlife – and that very much includes anyone trying to help stop crimes against badgers! We love badgers, and we have huge respect and admiration for the hundreds of groups that work on their behalf.

That includes the Somerset Badger Monitors who focus their attention on the Somerset Levels. They asked if we could help them with body cameras to both make themselves feel more secure when out at night and to capture photographic evidence. We discussed which model the group would prefer and were delighted to provide - on our supporters' behalf - two body cameras and extra SD cards.

"Somerset Badger Monitors has been concentrating on a village and the surrounding area in Sedgemoor as one of the cull directors is based there. Their company is NLND LTD and their director also runs Milk from the Moors, a popular dairy farm that operates fresh milk and milkshake vending machines in the area.

Our primary goal is ensuring the cull contractors are not causing undue suffering to badgers. We have witnessed many instances of dangerous and illegal shooting, improper handling of dead badgers, and abuse and harassment. It’s not always easy to record evidence using a phone camera, especially when you’re juggling a torch and other equipment, and incidents often come down to our word against theirs.

As the cull takes place at night, we identified a need for body cameras that could capture video in the dark as well as audio. These will make it much easier for us to record evidence, as they’ll always be in position and ready to record. They will free up people’s phone so they can phone 999 while still recording. We’ve also noticed that shooters stop what they’re doing when they see someone getting a phone out of their pocket, so we hope the cameras will make it easier for us to capture any illegal activity.

We can’t stop them shooting, but we can make sure they’re accountable, and these cameras will be a huge help with that. We are so grateful to Protect The Wild for helping us buy them and we can’t wait to start working with them!"

---

We’re working hard to raise the profile of the Protecting the Wild Equipment Fund so that more groups can benefit, and as part of that effort we’ve asked each recipient to explain what they do and how they are using the equipment we have provided – not only to show supporters how their donations are being spent, but also to encourage other groups to apply! After all, the more ‘eyes in the field’ there are, the higher the chances that wildlife criminals will be caught, and the safer wildlife will be.

We are able to buy the equipment we give out because of paid subscriptions on Substack. While all our online content is free, any money we do receive from paid subscriptions is ringfenced and used to buy equipment to put ‘eyes in the field’. It’s a simple idea – but the best ideas usually are! If you’d like to know more we have explained it all in our post “What do we mean by “Empowering people to protect British wildlife“?

With your support we will be giving out many more pieces of equipment to groups over the coming months and years. And we will always keep you up to date with how your support is directly helping wildlife!

If you’re an individual or organization working in the field and would like to apply to our fund please read our T&Cs here first and use the online application form on the same page.

• For more information on the legislation that protects badgers and what to do if you suspect a crime against badgers, please go to our Protectors of the Wild page > Badgers and the Law