A Line Has Been Crossed And Bristol City Council Can No Longer Sit Inactive

 Following on from The Green Party led Bristol City Council dismissing the need to protect wildlife on roads and ignoring its own supposed core values, this email has just been sent to the relevant councillors.

Well, isn't that all just dandy.  So, despite what officials at the National Green Party HQ tell me "The Green Party states as item 3 of "Our Core Values": Humankind depends on the diversity of the natural world for its existence. We do not believe that other species are expendable." this does not apply to the Bristol Green Party?

We have gone well beyond the usual Council excuses here and a lot of us voted for your party  (a lot of votes are already lost next time around). Yesterday we had a vixen hit by a car that was lactating her cubs (anywhere from 4-6) could not be found so they will slowly die.  Today another lactating vixen was struck by a car and her cubs will now slowly die. Last week a council team smashed up a shed on a property that clearly had a den under it with cubs yet it was still smashed up and the cubs left but luckily after work finished the vixen came back for them or they would have died. To knowingly interfere with a fox den during cub season when it is active constitutes a wildlife crime (look it up on DEFRA's page. It is not the only den tampered with by council crews in the past.

We are losing wildlife that are valuable to our environment and we even had one succumb to a sachet of council grain containing rodenticide (part of our fox necropsy study).  Bristol City Council loves to flaunt its environmental credentials and wildlife diversity when it suits for publicity but it has a terrible record and that is proven by field naturalists. I hounded the Labour Council on the otter situation and to be honest I suspect I will be hounding the Green Party on it.

Talk is all very nice but thousands of animals killed on Bristol roads every year is far from a matter pushed aside for "financial reasons" every single time. Action is needed and quickly -not in five or 10 years when the fox population and that of the badgers will be so low they will be disappearing from the area.  There are already calls for foxes to be Red Listed (the total known deaths in the City this year is  85) and enough badgers have died so far. These animals are dying in numbers daily while "budgets" are offered as excuses.

My social media posts, blog as well as upcoming interviews on the field work carried out will not be painting the City Council in a good light.  I have spent 8 years lobbying politely, submitting facts and reports and we have not moved a single inch on anything. 

T. Hooper