{"id":761922,"date":"2020-10-26T07:49:15","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T11:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=761922"},"modified":"2020-10-26T07:49:15","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T11:49:15","slug":"badge-of-courage-a-night-with-the-secretive-animal-rights-group-sabotaging-englands-badger-cull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=761922","title":{"rendered":"BADGE OF COURAGE: A night with the secretive animal rights group sabotaging England\u2019s badger cull"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Last year, more than 35,000 badgers were slaughtered in England. Badgers are lured into cages or holes, before they are shot with rifles, taking up to 20 minutes to die.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

NIKO VOROBYOV:<\/strong> The badger has a hallowed place in British countryside lore… But not everyone shares this enthusiasm for the black-and-white mammals… In 2013, the UK government began badger cull test run in parts of Somerset and Gloucestershire, aimed at containing the spread of bovine TB \u2013 a disease that affects cattle and is carried by badgers. Cattle can contract bovine TB by eating grass where infected badgers have left urine, faeces and other bodily fluids. The badgers themselves may not show symptoms… Since then, the programme has expanded to 44 areas across England…<\/p>\n

Ash is a member of Underground Badger Syndicate (UBS), a radical animal liberation group taking direct action to sabotage \u2013 or \u201csab\u201d \u2013 the badger cull… Its members see themselves as taking a stand again \u201cspeciesism\u201d… \u201cWhen you see a badger in a cage, they\u2019ve given up on life,\u201d says Ash. \u201cThey\u2019re diggers, so if they can\u2019t dig anymore, they lie down and accept their fate. They shit themselves, and then they lie in their own shit. It\u2019s horrible”…<\/p>\n

Every day of the six-week culling season, which takes place in September and October, UBS activists scour woods and fields across the country looking for cages to smash, or fresh bait spots where they can later ambush farmers and disrupt their hunt. They are helped by a network of supporters and informers, which Ash claims number in the hundreds, if not thousands…<\/p>\n

Unlike other anti-cull campaigners, who operate in the open, UBS prefer to work at night, loitering in fields, wearing masks and trespassing. \u201cThe Cult of Corn is a spooky group you don’t want to have around your farm,\u201d reads a recent satirical UBS Instagram post. \u201cThey are attracted into your property by your cages, so either you stop or they will invade your fields.\u201d Ash admits that there is an element of intimidation to UBS tactics. \u201cWe\u2019ve had shooters cry and pee themselves because we were there,\u201d they say…<\/p>\n

UBS does not promote or condone physical violence, but the group isn\u2019t against ringing farmers at odd hours to ask why they\u2019re taking part in the cull. In August, protesters showed up at the home of a Surrey company director organising a cull and graffitied \u201cbadger killer\u201d outside… But for the farmers on the receiving end of UBS\u2019 unusual tactics, the group is a real worry…<\/p>\n

Last year, more than 35,000 badgers were slaughtered, most of them shot dead, with less than 1 percent of kills monitored to check that they were carried out \u201chumanely\u201d. Typically, badgers are lured into cages or small holes filled with peanuts, before they are shot… Despite how contentious the badger cull has become, there is still some doubt about its impact as a method for stopping the spread of bovine TB.<\/p>\n

Professor John Krebs, a zoologist at the University of Oxford, has commissioned a landmark study into the culling trial. \u201cThe cull has some effect, maybe a 20 percent reduction, but many scientists think that cattle-to-cattle transmission is more important,\u201d he says…<\/p>\n

For Ash and the UBS, the effectiveness of the cull is a moot point. \u201cTo be honest with you, I don\u2019t care if the cull works, if it eradicates TB,\u201d Ash says. \u201cThey shouldn\u2019t be killing badgers, and farmers shouldn\u2019t be farming cattle which is the main reason for greenhouse gases, for soya crops, and it\u2019s ethically wrong”. SOURCE…<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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