Hedgehogs in the UK ARE a Protected Species

 

 To be very clear: hedgehogs are protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Schedule 6) and the Wild Mammals Protection Act 1996, making it illegal to kill, capture, or cruelly treat them. They are also listed as a species of "principal importance" under the NERC Act 2006, requiring conservation efforts.

Also -you can find this on other web pages of wildlife organisations- hedgehogs are officially classified as "Vulnerable to Extinction" on the Red List for British Mammals (2020), following drastic population declines. Studies indicate they have declined by 30-50% in rural areas and 30% in urban areas since 2000.

Which makes me ask what is going on when the British Hedgehog Preservation Society/Hedgehog Street/People's Trust for Endangered Species stated this in an email to someone who was concerned about hedgehogs on a proposed development site:

I have contacted the organisation involved and suggested they update their data.

Is There A Difference Between a Collie Dog and a Badger (seriously)

 It does not help if you are involved in wildlife work or rescue and people try to lead you on wild goose chases. Two people forwarded this to me yesterday evening concerned that it was out in the day and reported as "very agitated". A third person asked whether it was AI as they were far from sure the report was genuine.

Firstly, there are no signs of AI. The scene is lit up by street lights.  

 

I have a large data base of badger photographs and videos (but nowhere near as extensive as the fox archive) and a handy tool to identify images. It took 30 seconds to identify this 'Bristol' image.    

Credit states: ""Badgers are becoming an increasingly common site in Britain's towns and cities, where they both forage and establish their setts. It remains unclear whether badgers actively choose urban areas for their homesteads, or if they fail to move when we build around them. - Credit: Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire & Rutland Badger Group"

That check, confirmed by also using an online image check, saved the person who was going to check from wasting time and fuel and searching around a large area.

I have not included the poster's name in case they really are that daft that they do not know the difference between a collie dog and badger but I suspect a hoax.

In the past I have had calls for "injured fox lying out by the road" which turned out to be a fluffy toy (we know who perpetrated that hoax) and we have even had photos sent of foxes at different locations- more hoaxes using stuffed foxes.

In the time wasted on hoaxes some injured animal could be found and treated or taken to a vet to be put out of pain. The fact that drivers in the City and County drive into foxes, badgers, deer and otters and do not even stop or report what has happened is bad enough but that people in the area think it is funny top waste our time with jokes and hoaxes shows the disregard there is toward wildlife.

It is not a joke.

Bristol Wildlife Rescue

 

Bristol Needs A Badger Group -Badger Trust Has Memory Loss

 

The Badger Trust apparently wants to set up a badger group in Bristol.

My first assumption was that someone had gotten it wrong but then someone else informed me that the Badger Trust was going to set up a Bristol group.

 

To say this is insulting does not cover it since they have been absolutely no help with badger issues in the area since I set up the Bristol Badger Group. All of the local fighting I've had to do to prevent developers and Bristol City Council destroying badger setts/territories I have had to do alone since all the help I got from the Trust was citing what the law says which I bloody well know. All of the hostile kick-back from stopping the developments I have had to take the brunt off. 

Regular visitors will know from past posts what has been going on –I record all issues here on the blog as well as on the Face Book Bristol Foxes and Badgers Group.

If anyone sees mention of them setting aup a Bristol group please correct the record.

 

For the record I just sent this to the trust:

”Hello.

 

“I was informed today that the Badger Trust is intending to set up a badger group in Bristol.

”I have been in communication with the trust a number of times over the years and you should be well aware that when the Avon Badger Group folded in 1993 I set up the Bristol Badger Group. We have been monitoring badger setts, rescuing badgers as well as recording badger deaths in the City and County of Bristol. I have also prevented development on badger sett areas -the Trust was informed on these developments and our work. I also pass on badger death reports I receive to Gloucestershire Badger group as well as the Somerset group.

”I find it rather insulting that the Trust has decided that it is going to set up a group in this area that Bristol Badger Group has covered for 32 years. We have had email exchanges as well as Face Book Messenger and a couple of phone conversations. How can the Trust not be aware of Bristol Badger Group?

”Terry Hooper
Bristol Badger Group (f 1994)"

Bounties on Wildlife

 

 Although hunts play a major part in wildlife extinctions it is very unpopular to correct dogma. As I am not looking for popularity let me correct major dogma. 

"It was the rich and upper classes that hunted and killed for fun and wiped out a lot of wildlife" 

Well, to an extent but along with all the well to do men and women were the normal every day folk who may well have killed for 'fun' but the main intention was to earn "easy money".  In The Red Papers I noted the various bounties paid for killing  foxes, badgers, otters and so on and these were bounties paid out all over the country. In The Scottish Annals of Natural History (1895) Vol 15 page 193:

Yes, everything could be killed including house (pet) cats and before anyone thinks that would be a rarity well 6d back then bought a lot and if you didn't like next door's moggy and you saw it walking about...easy pickings. Game keepers, of course, relished shooting anything but pet cats and pet dogs were included (there is a black joke, albeit factual, that gamekeepers always had great fruit and vegetable crops because of the "fertilizer" -cats and dogs they had shot).

So do not just blame organised and casual hunting for 'fun' but remember everyday ordinary folk killed off wildlife for fun and profit, too (motorists today kill off thousands of foxes, badgers,m otters, cats, dogs, deer and other species without even giving it a second thought so not much changes).