QCA was represented yesterday at the badger march in London by some six members, including Thom Bonneville who took the photos, and our patron André Menache.
Above, are members Sonia Waddell and Malcolm Winch, holding our banner.
Heidi Stephenson, of Totnes Meeting in Devon, reports that it was a peaceful and very moving event.
She says:
‘The press initially reported that “hundreds” had marched – but in fact, there were probably 5000 + of us, which police reports have now confirmed – and we only represented a tiny fraction of the national anti-cull support.
We were deliberately steered on a path that took us as far away from the general public as possible – through quiet streets lined with empty office buildings.
Please write to your MPs again and insist that they represent your views in Wednesday’s important parliamentary debate. Please make sure you have signed Brian May’s petition to the government. To sign the e-petition please click here
Please circulate this to others – Facebook, Tweet and spread the call…The badgers are completely voiceless without us and the killing could start any time now.
Humane Society International, among others, has reported that the suffering will be immense – with terrible damage to vital organs, horrific injuries that leave animals immobilized so that they starve to death, and abandoned cubs. Already there are reports of sett-gassing and ‘cullers’ pouring slurry into setts. And all this for perfectly healthy animals, for the large part – and in the face of a viable vaccination option.
Please do all you can to stop this atrocity towards our wildlife – which will only set the precedent for more killing – of red deer – now deemed ‘vermin’ – , buzzards, foxes, rabbits and any other poor being who is not ‘commercially viable’.
Below is Bella:
Please watch this footage of the march, in which the QCA banner can be seen half way through. Sent by Heidi. It contains some poignant pictures:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V81wqKpBOuU&feature=youtu.be
A touching literary contribution from Heidi Stephenson:
The Badger
(In homage to William Blake, a compassionate man who would have strongly opposed a badger cull – and his magnificent poem ‘The Tyger’.)
Badger, badger blazing white
In the woodlands of the night,
What indifferent hand or eye
Would take your precious liberty?
In what pseudo-science lies
‘Proof’ that all your kind should die
On what grounds dare they acquire
The ‘right’ to slay you in your byre?
Wiping out your ancient part
In our landscape, like the hart
Blaming you for some great feat
The rise of TB. How they cheat!
Now see the politicians feign,
Twist statistics, smear your name
Hoodwink farmers, make them gasp
The blatant truth, they rasp and rasp
Intensive farming through the years
Sick animals, worn down by fears
Did He who made us want to see?
You trapped and shot at for a fee?
Badger, badger, blazing white
In the woodlands of the night
What trigger-happy hand or eye
Dare take your sacred liberty?
© Heidi Stephenson, July 2010.
This is Sonia Waddell.
Andre Menache with his badger mask.
~ Virginia McKenna addresses the march. On the left, Kate from Animal Aid and on the right, Brian May, who also spoke.
Ways to continue to help:
Badger Trust
The new campaign leaflet is now available and you can view it here. To order, please e-mail staff@badgertrust.org.uk, stating quantity required and name and address for delivery. It is important to have these distributed as widely as possible so we look forward to receiving your orders in the near future and these will be processed as promptly as possible. If you require them for a particular date, please say so.
Best wishes, Pat Hayden, Vice Chairman.
Also:
www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/news_wildlife/ALL/2858//
The Scottish Wildlife Trust has called on the government to stop the cull. They are asking their supporters to sign the petition which currently has 231,847 signatures:
To sign the e-petition please click here
Chairman of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Allan Bantick, said: “The Scottish Wildlife Trust want people to show their opposition to the culling of badgers in England.
“The Scottish Wildlife Trust urges everyone to sign the e-petition – the second largest of its kind – and make it the largest collection of signatures ever, to show the public outrage at this cull.
“Science has shown that culling will not prevent the spread of bovine tuberculosis, in fact such a cull could actually make things worse by spreading the disease to an even wider badger and cattle population.
“The Scottish Wildlife Trust instead advocates more research into developing a badger and cattle vaccination programme – a solution that has science and compassion on its side.”
For more – including a petition to sign against the shooting of buzzards in Scotland, please visit:
www.scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk
The Conservative Parliamentary group opposed to hunting was also present at the march:
Conservatives Against Fox Hunting working within the Conservative Party to advance animal welfare:
It was great to see such a diversity of human animals there: not just fanged AR diehards, but rural groups, families, even conservatives
My heartfelt thanks go out to all involved in the march against the badger cull. Please continue to campaign as many of us, who were unable to attend the march, are doing, and will continue to do so.