As the Badger Trust release images of dead badgers in body bags piled up for burning (pictured in the Daily Mirror) we remind people of this very day 2 years ago…

On 23rd October 2017 we posted these pictures, a bloodied body bag which had blown off the back of a badger shooter’s pickup truck the night before in the North Cotswold cull zone. The dead badger who had once briefly occupied the bag had obviously not been ‘dealt with’ as per the regulations – they had not been double-bagged and the bag had not been sealed, allowing it to blow away while the shooter drove off through the cull zone.

Biosecurity? Not taken seriously when people wish to shoot badgers for money. We strongly believe that the culls will do nothing to reduce bTB and with perturbation risks and guidelines being ignored it is likely to have worsened the problem.

Add to that the fact that fox hunts block and dig out badger setts and there are issues with badger baiters and others operating in the area, farms with bTB breakdowns are hosting hunt meets, animal welfare and cleanliness on farms is often low on the priorities and dead farm animals are left to rot on land and we’re definitely seeing badgers being scapegoated…

Original post from Gloucestershire Badger Office: