Sooz [of the blog Sooz in the Shed] asked what people can do to help, and I posted a few links. The big thing is to get out into the cull zones in Gloucestershire & Somerset, and join a badger patrol. The patrols are law abiding and peaceful, and simply walk along public footpaths wearing hi-vis vests so that other people know they are there. The shooters cannot shoot if there are members of the public within a mile of the shoot location. Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP, accused anti-cull protesters of dumping a dead badger on his doorstep [as if!!] and called anti-cull protesters 'scroungers' and 'malingerers'. An article in the Daily Telegraph on 9 September said :
In a blog for The Western Daily Press, the great-great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria, said he was surprised the protesters got up early enough to deliver the corpse.
“I thought most of them were in the habit of lying in bed until the pubs open, or until the postman arrives with the benefit cheque (or do such things get paid straight into their accounts these days?)
“Either way, since they are all malingerers and scroungers there is no real incentive to leap out of bed as soon as the dawn chorus strikes up,” he wrote.
Nice attitude for an elected Member of Parliament to express in public. this links shows that his very biased opinion is way wide of the mark : http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/Meet-peaceful-professionals-badger-cull-protests/story-19797611-detail/story.html
More people are always needed. If you can get to Gloucestershire or Somerset and want to help, have a look here :
Stop The Cull
Brian May's Save Me organisation
Badger Army
If you can't get there please consider making a donation to help with the costs of maintaining a presence and saving badgers. The donations go towards things like petrol money, torches, batteries, whistles and so on.
Somerset Against The Badger Cull
Fuel Fund
Camp Badger
Other things being done by ordinary people like you & me include asking difficult questions of the Government ministers who authorised and support the cull. One such protester went to see Owen Patterson, MP, the Secretary of State for the Environment and the main man authorising and encouraging the cull. She reports that she asked him why nothing is being done about vigilantes leaving badgers maimed but not killed. The reply? 'Not my problem'.
You can write to your MP and ask them to oppose the cull. You can ask them to sign early Day Motion 299, which opposes the cull. You can ask them to lobby for the cull to be stopped. If, like I do, you have a Tory MP then you are unlikely to get a positive response, but you have to keep at it. They have to be told just how unpopular this cull is making them. Maybe someone will see sense if they realise that their comfortable lifestyle is at risk.
Other people are making things to sell to raise money - Badger Auction
- and one of my beadie friends has recently had a destash to sell beads to raise money.
You can leaflet your local area - speak to The Badger Trust for leaflets.
Lots of protesters are going to the Tory Party Conference in Manchester on 29 September to protest about the cull.
The anti-cull supporters come from everywhere and from all walks of life. Despite what Mr Liddell-Grainger thinks, they are using their annual leave to go to the zones, they are giving up their weekends and they are using their evenings to write and lobby. They are just ordinary people doing what they believe is right. In short, they are the embodiment of Call-Me-Dave Cameron's Big Society. They are you & me.
PS - I forgot - if you want to know why we're doing this, have a look here This is a link to Simon King's live webcam. Around 8.30 each night, a bunch of badgers come for a feed. It's wonderful.
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