Innocent Badger

Farmers weekly this morning:
Defra is expected to make an announcement on the resumption and expansion of the badger cull around mid-September.

A spokesman for Natural England said it had received 13 applications for culling licences in new areas for 2017.

But she added: “I am unable to confirm any further details as Natural England is currently considering these applications, as part of the usual licensing process.

“There is no set date for when the outcome of these applications will be announced.”

In the history of these badger culls, this is unprecedented. Licences are always published before 30th of August each year. Culling usually begins last week in August or the first week in September.

You can check previous years licences and explanations of the target number to kill here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bovine-tb-controlling-the-risk-of-bovine-tb-from-badgers

Supplementary licences have been issued for Somerset and Gloucestershire, you can read more about that here.

So we are left with the question, why are Somerset and Gloucestershire now licenced to go, but none of the other 8 culls zones which are already liceneced. Why should those previously licenced areas be put on hold whilst Natural England makes decisions on new licences.

It’s not only baffling anti cull activists, it’s creating a massive stir inside the farming communities, we have recieved multiple pieces of information all saying very similar things, that their is a serious issue between Defra and the Police. Cull company organisers are having emergency meetings and thats not surprising, when you have a badger cull organised and a team of employees who have been contracted to start the end of August.

Our best guess based on what we know is that the serious issue is a safety issue, that safety issue if it was related to free shooting, could mean that gloucestershire and somerset go ahead with only cage trapping until the free shooting issue is resolved (this is a guess and we would urge people in both areas to remain vigilant, nothing is known for certain at this point).

We can’t think of any other element of the badger culls that the police would be involved with other than safety. Perhaps ministers need to sign off on something before the culls can go ahead, MP’s are back in the house of commons on September 5th.

We can exlusively release the badger cull contractors risk assessment.

What is clear from reading the contractors risk assessment is that time and again shooters have to report to base during any incident and they must always have a radio and a phone. Experience tells us, that cage trappers didn’t get radios after the first year, but the free shooting contractors did.

With safety of the shooters hinging on their radios, perhaps the recent expose that they use emergency services radio kit paid for by the taxpayer really is a very vulnerable weak point. Saboteurs are keen to get into the field with tetra detecting equipment and one fact we do know;
Defra & the NFU are very unhappy.

If you’d like to buy us a cup of coffee to help us purchase equipment and fuel, you can buy one here: https://ko-fi.com/A0307Y3

A recent expose showed that shooters are using the emergency services radio bandwidth, and that has safety implications for everyone. Not just badgers.

“Stop the Cull” recently found that badger cull shooters were having their radio equipment bought for them by taxpayers, that kit operates on the same frequencies as the emergency services, you can read about it here. (guardian link)

This story brings up a number of serious issues, as the headline in the guardian states, tax payers money is being spent on a cull that was supposed to be paid for by the farming community. Whilst many people will be rightly angry about that, a far more serious issue is being overlooked; Safety.

Shooters contracts specifically state that:

“If a contractor encounters anyone in the area of their intended activity they are to cease operations immediately and withdraw from the area, without engaging anyone and informing the operations centre of the event as soon as possible.”

Last year in a few areas some of the shooters completely ignored their “contractor risk assessment” which they had signed.

We know from this same document that all contractors are to have radios AND mobile phones fully charged when they go out and must radio in when they get home after a nights culling.

Many areas of the badger cull are in remote rural locations with poor mobile signal, the tetra hand sets are vital for shooters at night if they are to operate safely. That safety has now been obliterated by anti cull activists having tetra detectors.

But the real risk isn’t from anti cull activists. Criminals or terrorists could now feasibly purchase tetra detection devices, go into a cull zone, cover their faces, shine a torch into a shooters face and when the shooter stands down, overwhelm them and take their gun from them. Whether or not this is likely to happen is debatable, BUT if shooters are concerned that they might face having weapons stolen from them then it massively increases the chances of serious violence to occur.

For the anti cull movement, tetra detection is just another wave of technology being used against badger killers, Thermal Imaging drones are also being deployed and these will also help to locate badgers in traps.

Please as a matter of urgency contact Avon and Somerset police AND Gloucestershire police commisioners and ask them to review their forces recommendations of tetra handsets, use your own words, or copy and paste our letter below into an email:

pcc@gloucestershire.pnn.police.uk, pcc@avonandsomerset.pnn.police.uk

Dear Mr. Surl & Ms.Mountstevens,

I understand that the badger cull licence states:
“Natural England may revoke a licence at any time following advice from the police on public order issues.”
I ask you to revoke the licence on the grounds of public safety.

If you are not willing to revoke the licences, the very least you could do is to remove tetra handsets from shooters who go out at night.

The shooters are contracted to stand down when members of the public are near.

They could be easily found now due to the tetra detection devices and anyone wanting to steal a firearm could as a consequence of the polices decision to give them this kit, easily locate and overwhelm them.

We have strong gun control in this country and that is a good thing, it prevents criminals and people from terror organisations like daesh and the national front from getting hold of shotguns and high powered rifles.
With shooters being aware of this potential threat, they may well become aggressive towards any civilians and no one wants to see violent confrontations involving firearms.
I eagerly await your response.

regards

if you would like to help us with tetra detection kit, please consider buying us a cup of coffee: https://ko-fi.com/A0307Y3