Set cages have been found in Gloucs zone 1 (the original cull zone). The cull has definitely started in West Gloucs.
Repeat: the cull has started.

The licence was issued on 29th June 2018 so the cull could have started well over a week ago.

One of the cages found has been (badly) welded back together, presumably being re-used after being cut apart before…

SETT TARGETED BY CULLERS IN GLOUCS ZONE 1 FOUND BLOCKED BY TON OF MANURE DAYS AFTER LICENCE TO KILL BADGERS IS ISSUED.

There is now no doubt whatsoever. The supplementary culls for both zone 1 Gloucestershire and zone 2 Somerset went on for 5 months as announced by DEFRA. Cage trapping ran from 29th August 2017 to 30th November 2017 and free shooting from 29th August 2017 to 15th January 2018 in both zones.

The new licences are also out for both zones from 29th June 2018 and it would be sensible to consider the probability that the government sponsored cull has recommenced in both areas on some level. On the ground over the last few evenings shots have been heard, pro cull landowners more jumpy but as yet no proof either way. One sett checked last night on the east of Gloucs zone 1 had a ton of manure on it. The sab who checked found at first the trashed cages from 2 years ago and then it dawned that there were no runs, no latrines, every hole blocked leaving the badgers to suffocate within and some weeks ago by the look of it. The sett was last looked at in March this year. It has been reported to the police, RIP badgers.

If supplementary cull licences are granted to other zones on top of illegal culling, sett blocking, “developers”, road traffic deaths, etc badgers are in danger. We need people on the ground checking setts. If you live in either of the first 2 zones please get out there now and sett check when you can or patrol in the evenings for an hour or so. For Gloucestershire Badger Office the number is 07709 624903.
Meanwhile badgers (and other wildlife) are dying in the heat. We seem to have enough water for industry, for our sprinklers, for our swimming pools as they die of thirst. It will be easy enough for the cullers to bait starving badgers to their deaths in this weather.

So what to do? Well the autonomous local groups and individuals in the old Gloucs zone Newent Badger Alliance and Z16 have maintained a regular presence against all badger culling and this seems to be the key, fully autonomous groups looking after their own local setts. A few hours a day/night where you live can make a massive difference. Sett checking as part of life. Popping into check setts on passing them on the way to the shops/work/a night out. Maintaining structures such as an office, a petrol fund, central mapping etc all year round. Those operating in nearby newer areas checking known setts in old zones when the opportunity arises. Concentrating on protecting a few setts all year round with photographic evidence filed and checks documented properly in the local area. Sett checking pre and post hunt sabbing. Reporting wildlife crime to the police and the Badger Trust. Some of the stuff we have been doing with other groups. And as the cullers chop and change what they are doing, well so can we.

Everyone has a right to a life outside this so this is about badger protection as and when we can do it in a sustainable way. We owe it to our wildlife to do something though even if it is just giving them some food and water.

The cull figures for the suplementary badger cull for the Gloucestershire zone came out today. 172 badgers were slaughtered between 29th August 2017 and 15th January 2018. 5 months of free shooting and cage trapping stopping on 30th November 2017.

We applaud those who not only protected badgers throughout the entire culling period but have continued to protect badgers from illegal culling too outside the licenced period. We are proud to have assisted them.

Our “day job” of sabbing hunts included sett checking and note well that the Ledbury hunt kept on blocking setts throughout November, December and January in the cull zone throughout the extended cull period. See photos. Sometimes after the hunt had packed up, setts and surrounding areas would be checked in the dark with an ear out for shooting activity.

And now there is a licence for the old Gloucestershire zone, culling could begin again in this heat.

Sett surveying continues apace in new zones and as can be seen from the photo another hunt, the Heythrop, has blocked another sett in what could be a new Oxfordshire zone (historic from last season). This one was found on Wednesday evening.

The land is parched and many wild beings are dying from dehydration and starvation.

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It shouldn’t matter who you call to court as a character witness if you’re actually of previously good character, but it certainly feels like this character witness managed to sway things somewhat. Either that or this judge / court happens to be very lenient in general…

We’re unsure how the legal system in this country still manages to claim that…

1. The law and threat of punishment acts as a deterrent to those thinking of committing offences and…

2. That all offenders are treated fairly. We can’t imagine that the same leniency would be shown to inner-city kids with more genuine grievances (for example) than the terriermen from the prestigious Belvoir Hunt who were faced with nothing more than 2 calm monitors setting up camera equipment.

Apparently you can:

– premeditate an attack (tell your son to ‘go get the boys’ and for your son to then return with 4 other masked men)

– be part of an attack which leaves one of your two victims with a broken neck, in a neck collar for 4 months and initially fearing that he may be paralysed

– refuse to tell police and courts the identities of the 4 masked men (who it’s fairly obvious you know)

– plead guilty to GBH, theft and criminal damage…

and then get away with not being charged with conspiracy, you avoid prison time because if you had to serve time you would lose your job (and you’re hardworking of course), you have to pay a mere £500 to one of your victims, do a few hours community service and not break the law again for 2 years or face only just over a year of jail time (only half of which actually in prison).

Shame on Judge Jinder Singh Boora for failing to see that there is no way that these men just “flipped”. In the time it took to go and find the other 4 men and drive back, the father and son could have calmed down and changed their minds about causing injury. The 4 masked men didn’t run into the monitors and just ‘lose their shit’ either – they were called on specifically to come and assault 2 peaceful people and could have chosen not to do so at any point.

We hope that Mr. Cunnington brings a civil case against these men as the £1000 they’ve been told to pay him will in no way make up for the fear, stress, pain, loss of movement and loss of earnings, etc that they caused him. They are said to be hardworking and we know that one of the reasons they avoided jail time was in order to keep their jobs, so they should be able to adequately compensate him in future…

The law is not a deterrent. It gives people the opportunity to look at what it would cost to break the law and whether it’s worth the price. More like a menu where you choose what you can afford, not a way of keeping anyone safe…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-44488533

As the hunting season draws to an end each year we compile our sett blocking data along with other individuals/groups and especially Cirencester Illegal Hunt Watch (and as part of our participation with Gloucestershire Badger Office).

The setts mentioned in this table are routinely blocked in the main because hunts do not want foxes to escape down labyrinthine badger setts. This is only the very tip of the iceberg and for the following reasons is just an indication of the scale of criminality against badgers and foxes much of which is within known active badger cull zones (all areas mentioned will soon become active badger cull zones)…

1. The hunts mentioned are all out 2-4 times a week. During cub hunting a couple of them have a 6 day weeks. Blocking setts and digging them out to get to a fox are carried out as part of fox hunting for 7 months of the year (including when the badger cull is operating at the same time in the same area). We can only check a fraction of setts that may be blocked.

2. Early morning patrols, the police speaking to hunt officials/landowners, us making landowners aware of sett blocking on their land, hidden cameras, reporting each and every sett block and posting about sett blocking has had a visible deterrent effect in SOME areas meaning that setts are blocked less and in some cases not ever again.

3. Bad weather has led to lots of cancellations this year meaning less hunting days this year so less sett blocking.

A couple of the entries on this table are to do with direct badger persecution and are NOT connected with hunting. We would urge all those who want to protect badgers to sett survey their own locality and be on guard against developers, hunts, those who would attack badgers for “sport”, the cull and all other persecution. Compiling and publishing data on a national level from such grim findings should form an intrinsic part of badger protection from those who would eliminate them.

For the table and further information check out our article ‘Hunts vs Badgers’.

Please continue to support us financially if you can – either message us or send something via PayPal. We will be out on an almost daily basis sett surveying, checking, keeping an eye out for illegal traps and so forth.