The investigation into a badger sett being filled in is ongoing & we cannot comment much upon it at the moment, what we can reveal though is part of an email we received from the police:

“However, running alongside this investigation and as a direct result of it, The Health and Safety Executive have served an enforcement notice on The Forthampton Estate concerning offences under Regulation 24 of the Plant Protection Products (Sustainable Use) Regulations 2012.

The enforcement notice is indicative of the level of offence committed in this case.”

Because we can exclusively reveal, if Forthampton goes, Glos badger cull zone will totally collapse.

As many of you will know, we always suspected that the Glos zone was close to the 70% needed of land ownership that must be in place for the cull licence to be valid:

“7. Natural England must be informed immediately, in writing, about any land that is withdrawn or which otherwise ceases to be eligible to participate in licensed operations. No operations authorised by this licence may commence unless at least 70% of land in the Control Area, as defined in Annex A, is accessible for action to be taken under this licence.”

Well now we know for a fact the Glos zone is at 73% or less and Forthampton pulling out will break the back of the cull and Mr.Paterson will be in a cold sweat over it.

His political career depends on the badgercull going ahead

Join us as we take on and beat the upper echelons of British government,

together we can

STOP THE CULL

Spread out across the cull zone they worked diligently to compile sett information so should the cull ever go ahead we will know where to defend.

A number of sabs thought it was worth heading over to the Chargot estate which is owned by Bettws Hall, for an undercover investigation on that company look here.

If you go 2 miles north of Wimbleball lake you will find Chargot wood, it is riddled with public footpaths, some of them going right next to the pheasant pens.

The Sunday Telegraph finally did the job and she has now stepped down.

A far more intelligent read was found on Saturday from the smallholder:

Smallholder magazine criticises government plans for badger cull

12:00am Saturday 11th May 2013 in News

Britain’s oldest specialist agricultural journal has condemned government plans to shoot thousands of badgers.

The Smallholder magazine, first published in 1910, has accused ministers of poor science and “craven submission to their political paymasters in the agri-lobby.”

The latest issue of Smallholder says government plans to cull badgers as part of its bid to control TB in cattle are doomed to fail.  The magazine devotes four pages of its latest edition to the issue, reporting on the efforts of Queen guitarist Brian May to stop the cull, which is due to start on June 1st.

Smallholder editorGraham Smith writes: “A few years ago, if anyone had suggested that the government should licence armed gangs to roam the countryside to shoot at protected wild animals, they would quite properly have been dismissed as bonkers.

“The imminent badger culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset have got very little to do with TB in cattle – and everything to do with a craven government submitting to its political paymasters in the agri-lobby.

“Some badgers carry TB.  So do many other wild animals.  So do domestic cats.

“But the biggest single cause of TB in cattle is undoubtedly other cattle.  Anyone who has ever seen the steam, hanging like a shroud over a large, crowded cattle shed; a shed which perhaps was not as clean as it should be; packed with cows that rarely saw a blade of grass; will recognise the ideal conditions for transmitting TB.  Big Farming does not like this inconvenient truth because it erodes profit margins.  Much easier to blame the badger.

“Even the method of the cull – open shooting – seems almost deliberately designed to offend science.  How many bullets will be fired?  How many animals (the majority of them totally free of TB) will be simply wounded?

“When Parliament debated the badger cull only 28 MPs could be found to vote in favour of it.  147 voted against, and it seems this is a reasonable reflection of wider public opinion.

“Defra today has returned to its “Bad Old Days” when MAFF was the laughing stock of Whitehall; its desire to submit to its client-group fuelling foot and mouth disease, BSE and generally contributing to the environmental degradation of the British countryside.

“Smallholder has every sympathy with anyone whose livestock is infected with TB.  But shooting badgers is not the answer.”

Many many people were horrified to learn that Dorset Wildlife Trust had Charlotte Townshend as their patron, the fact she was joint master of the Cattistock hunt was bad enough, to find out that she was also allowing the badger cull on her land was for most people totally outrageous.

We were the lone voice calling for her to stand down as patron of the DWT, even though The Sunday Times did an article all about her involvement in the badger cull they didn’t mention her involvement in the DWT.

We hope this a strong message to anyone involved in the badger cull, no matter how big you are, we will take you on and reveal any hidden truths to the general public.

We notice that Dorset Wildlife Trust in their statement say:

“Charlotte Townshend has confirmed that she will be standing down as a patron of Dorset Wildlife Trust after the Trust was targeted by animal rights activists campaigning against the Government’s badger cull trials.”

but we haven’t “targeted” the Dorset Wildlife Trust at all! we have not asked anyone to stop their subscription, we have not asked for boycotts, We haven’t set up an email campaign, all we did with regards to the trust was tweet them a few times and leave some messages on their facebook page, if anyone thinks that is “targeting” then they need to sniff the smelling salts.

In fact we humorously encouraged DWT to carry on with their policy of asking the general public to contact Charlotte Townshend.

We eagerly await Charlotte’s statement on her position in the badger cull, so far all her spokesperson says is:

“It is a great shame that some of those who claim to be campaigning for wildlife actually focus on such negative activity rather than engaging in the sort of positive conservation work which Mrs Townshend has carried out over decades.”

Here are some stags that are part of Charlotte’s deer herd that she raises to be shot for laughs with her friends, sorry we mean

“positive conservation work”

If you do then you may have already seen this article from Saturday’s Independent (up online friday night):

Opponents of the badger cull have enlisted the help of members of the squatter and Traveller communities, threatening to occupy farm buildings and set up camps on private land where badgers will be shot.

The threat, from a newly-formed protest group called Squat the Cull, has further escalated tension in the rural areas earmarked for trials of the Government’s controversial culling policy, with local police forces preparing for clashes between farmers and animal rights activists.

Badgers can be shot legally by licensed marksmen in two cull zones in the West Country from 1 June. Natural England has issued licences for the killing of 70 per cent of badgers in both areas in order to reduce the spread of bovine tuberculosis to cattle.

“We think we have around 30 serious people willing to spend time on this and live on site with another 50 or so who can come for a day and will help resist eviction,” Dave Peel, a member of the group, told The Independent.

“We will work with other animal rights activists and hunt saboteurs and try physically to stop the cull by standing in front of the guns.”

He added: “Live-in vehicles of all descriptions are being talked about [...] We are also interested in squatting barns and any other out buildings.”

Mr Peel, 35, a forklift driver from south London, said that his group would contact members of the Occupy movement, who sustained a protest camp outside St Paul’s for several months, to seek their involvement or advice.

The cull is expected to attract one of the largest mobilisations of animal rights activists in recent times. Veteran hunt saboteurs and activists who took part in the campaign against animal testing at Huntingdon Life Sciences have joined local opponents of the cull to help with the mapping of cull zones.

The main protest group, Stop the Cull, has pledged that its members will shadow shooting parties with megaphones and vuvuzelas to scare badgers back into their setts.

Jay Tiernan, a leader of Stop the Cull, said activists associated with the group would act within the law but that it would “not condemn” harassment of farmers involved in the cull or damage to private property. Mr Peel said that the group would be accompanied by “plain-clothed legal monitors” of the kind that attended the Dale Farm evictions. “If they get heavy-handed and break the law by illegally arresting us or attacking us we will be better placed to sue them,” Mr Peel said.

Police in Gloucestershire have said they will ensure that peaceful protest is permitted while “dealing with any incidents of crime or disorder”. Assistant Chief Constable Richard Berry said that any additional policing costs would be met by the Home Office. The shadow Environment Secretary Mary Creagh has said that policing the cull would cost £4m.

The badger cull, which has the strong backing of the National Farmers Union, is opposed by a broad coalition of animal welfare groups including the RSPCA, the League Against Cruel Sports and the RSPB – all of which have dissociated themselves from the kind of direct action advocated by more radical groups such as Stop the Cull and Squat  the Cull.

do wildlife lovers put up skulls in their back garden?

Although we have always previously condemned the act of harassment of landowners involved in the cull, that changed recently after the x-rays of a shotgunned badger were passed to us, we ask for the organisers (Rupert Dod & Viv Sellick) of the badger cull in Somerset to condemn the illegal shooting of badgers, until they do that we will not condemn other peoples actions, whatever they are.

So we will not condemn the Dorset Wildlife Trust recommendation, which they have made repeatedly for people to contact Charlotte Townshend for “information”.

We wish them luck in any future court cases and they should remember if any of their spokespeople end up in prison for this campaign of harassment against their own patron, that the Animal Liberation Front will more than likely support them financially, as it does all animal rights prisoners.

We also note that  the Dorset Wildlife Trust doesn’t know where the cull zones are! when they say

“Our challenge of course is that we are not being reliably told where the proposed cull areas are in Dorset.”

Perhaps they should check out our website or just ask the farmers in the area.

If you would like to support the Dorset Wildlife Trust whilst they run this campaign of harassment against their patron (she has also been  joint master of the Cattistock hunt for nearly 20 years and has a large shooting estate in her back garden) then please visit them on their facebook page

If you would like to offer them moral support on twitter they are @DorsetWildlife

Just to be absolutely clear, we do not think you should be contacting Charlotte Townshend with requests for “information” we aren’t that radical…

She owns 15,000 acres of Dorset, much of that inside the two Dorset cull zones. Whilst walking her estate the other day we came across her herd of deer, being raised to be shot by her and her blood junky friends

Charlotte does have a rather nice home and its a bit handy that a public footpath goes right in front of it

Sunday Times

Badger activists target estate of wealthy huntswoman over cull

We have also been given the organisers names, Paul Gould in North Dorset and Trevor Cligg in West Dorset.

North Dorset is being worked on first & if either Somerset or Glos goes we expect N.Dorset to be next in line.

West Dorset is massive

First thoughts are is Charlotte Townshend allowing the badger cull on her huge estate in W.Dorset? She is Joint Master of the Cattistock Hunt, but also patron of the Dorset Wildlife Trust (bottom of the page). Conflict of interest? you decide

Until they do we will no longer condemn any non-violent direct action, up until today we have always said we condemn any acts of harassment or private property damage.

We have now decided to do what what Rupert Dod & Viv Sellick are doing and just refuse to comment on illegal activity. We neither condone or condemn it

“The previous Government decided in 2008 not to introduce a badger cull as part of bovine TB control measures in light of the findings of the UK Randomised Badger Culling Trial. This concluded that a reactive cull of badgers resulted in significant increases in bovine TB and a proactive cull, while controlling TB in the cull area, contributed to an increase in TB in surrounding areas, and would not be cost effective. Not all agreed. Sir David King, the chief Scientific Adviser at the time, reviewed the findings and concluded that a proactive cull would be cost effective.”

Sir David King is clearly mistaken if he thinks any badger cull wether its proactive or reactive can be cost effective.

We will make sure it isn’t GUARANTEED