We are NOT a "Nation of animal lovers"
One online source states that:
"Badgers are also killed by being involved in road traffic accidents. It is thought that up to 50,000 badgers are killed every year by traffic on Britain's roads and railways."
Firstly I believe that to be an under estimate. Back in 2000 when I was writing some technical papers I had to look up badger deaths. At that time it was estimated that up to 65,000 were killed each year on UK roads. Road traffic has increased since 2000 and roads have been built over over wildlife corridors. The resulting deaths of badgers, foxes and deer is evidence of how bad the death rate is.
As with badgers up to 65,000 foxes (actually it seems that this is also an under estimate) are killed by cars each year.
Now if we look at the number of badgers (a supposed 'protected species' since the 1970s) culled over the very bad 'science' on bovine TB (it is widely recognised even amongst naturalists that the badger was just a convenient scapegoat for bad animal husbandry on the part of farmers) we have around 250,000 -one quarter of a million- so far so adding in the 65,000+ =315, 000 and that makes sustaining a population near impossible in England (the only culling country in the UK). The number of badgers shot on private and royal estates and land as well as snaring and poisoning we have no figures for as they can be hidden easily. A sensible total for badger deaths would be around 400,000.
The British government and all of those involved are succeeding where from historical times up to the 1970s an ongoing campaign of melecide failed. They are wiping out a 'protected species' and making sure that6 it becomes extinct in England. It almost seems that this is a deliberate plan to totally wipe out badgers in England and what animal will be scapegoated once they are gone -the dormouse?
Above:Deer of various species are also killed on roads each year
Bad animal husbandry we have a very good example of and the results are still remembered today. To quote Wikipedia:
"The United Kingdom was afflicted with an outbreak of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, also known as "mad cow disease"), and its human equivalent variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD), in the 1980s and 1990s. Over four million head of cattle were slaughtered in an effort to contain the outbreak, and 178 people died after contracting vCJD through eating infected beef. A political and public health crisis resulted, and British beef was banned from export to numerous countries around the world, with some bans remaining in place until as late as 2019."
"The outbreak is believed to have originated in the practice of supplementing protein in cattle feed by meat-and-bone meal (MBM), which used the remains of other animals. BSE is a disease involving infectious misfolded proteins known as prions in the nervous system; the remains of an infected animal could spread the disease to animals fed on such a diet."
At that time I was a UK police forces advisor and I spoke to many people in the country and that included farmers. We know that certain farmers were moving cattle at night to beat the various zones set up to prevent the spread of the disease. I was aware that one farmer was "cautioned" after assaulting another who had endangered his cattle by moving cattle out of an isolation zone at night. The matter went no further as neither wanted to press charges and the farmer at fault should have been prosecuted but simply had to move his cattle back into the isolation zone.
At the same time hunts were reported breaching the BSE areas to continue their 'sport' and they still do similar in BTB areas. Warnings and cautions but that was it. Any horse or hound infected in some way was easy to dispose of "out of sight".
I mentioned deer so a good statistic comers from the RSPCA:
"Recent research indicates that up to 74,000 deer may be involved in vehicle collisions each year in Britain. Six species of deer live in the wild in Britain with a combined population of over a million."
And our Spikey red-listed garden friend the hedgehog is far from "recovering" and they pay a heavy price. According to Wildlife Online:
"Summary. The most obvious impact of roads on hedgehogs is direct mortality. Hedgehogs, like many animals, are susceptible to being runover and a recent estimate suggests as many as 335,000 are killed on Britain's road network each year.
The public are never distracted by any of this as it is always a case of "someone else will deal with it" or "nothing to do with me". The bleating starts when it does affect them and I would not be surprised to find badgers in England extinct by 2035.
Foxes, as we are learning with each new case submitted for post mortem examination, have a number of health issues that affect them from canine pneumonia which seems fairly common, babesia, worms -heart worm being the "silent killer" and much more. In a city such as Bristol hundreds are killed on the roads each year -we have the data to prove that.
Nationally the figure probably exceeds the 2000 estimated total of 55-65,000. We see foxes killed singly or in pairs or even threes as they try to cross traditional wildlife corridors. As of 22nd September, 2023 Bristol has had 200 fox deaths (these are only the ones reported) and the actual figure is likely around the 300+ mark.
To this we can add snaring -and that has happened in two local cases and although banned now in Wales (seen as the "national capitol of snaring") it is still cliami9ng many foxes and although fairly secretive just going by the photographs shared by these people they account for hundreds of foxes each year.
Officially, foxes can be "humanely" taken out by farmers if their livestock is threatened. Again, if you keep chickens then you need to know what you are doing. Foxes will gladly pass up chicken for a rabbit any day (and the whole chicken stealing fox was proved false a long time ago -by huntsmen themselves). But what threat is a fox (the size of a domestic cat) to even a lamb? None and, again, this was proven by the fox hunting fraternity who did field work and found that foxes were ignoring lambs and eating the nutrient rich afterbirth and sheep droppings. A still born lamb was still a free meal but foxes tended to avoid them as the ewes were still very protective. A fox a threat to cows and horses? Hardly.
So why is it that there are many people with high powered rifles and the latest night gear going out killing hundreds of foxes a month? They even share photos of themselves proudly displaying all the foxes they kill in one night in shooting publications, online and in Face Book groups were they are cited as "a credit to the sport'. Yes, they admit this is all sport shooting but under law that is illegal as you are killing a wild animal with no just cause or reason other than that it gives you "pleasure".
The police in the UK can easily find all of this evidence online -from the shooter posing with rifle and dead animals and even open discussions about how many foxes they have killed. It is an open and shut case. Why is this not being stopped? If you know any RSPCA inspectors ask them and they will tell you the same they told me; shooters include some serving police officers among them.
We have seen the fox population drop drastically and adding all the ways that foxes die in the UK (including poisoning and illegal lethal traps) then you can see the reasons why.
The first thing that needs to be done is the protect established wildlife corridors and that involves following the example of European and countries further afield; build wildlife over or under passes and that would save thousands of animals each year from badgers, foxes, deer and others. Simple solution but it would cost money and those in power would sooner have species go extinct than fork out money to save it (and upset some rich donators).
Begin protecting foxes by prosecuting illegal shooting especially when it involves the killing of a high number of adult and cub foxes. This hunting with no concern or ramification is how the Old British fox types became extinct in the 1860s. So long as these people have their 'fun' they do not care.
Rather like Chris Packham I think that I long ago gave up the idea that protesting will make changes. I have studied wildlife history as well as the wildlife itself for 50 years now and all I have seen is the legislastio0n to protect the environment and wildlife in it flouted or disregarded and even driven over when money is involved. Even now Bristol City Council, despite promises, are trying to find ways to get developments on green sites of importance -and, no, they do not like me.
Just the figures given in this post total 874, 200 in a year.
Why is no one organising large protests to stop the killing of wildlife and calling for wildlife corridors to be made safe with over and underpasses? Is that too much of a bother to save species and the environment? Is watching Eastenders or Coronation Street on TV while guzzling down a pizza far more important?
Apparently the answer is yes.
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