I WAS saddened to read the letter from the lady whose attempt to rescue an injured badger casualty on the A48 near Chepstow was thwarted by the criminal and mindless act of an individual, who deliberately drove straight over it and killed it.
Unfortunately this is just another example of acts of cruelty meted out to what is one of our most elusive and gentle of animals.
As a member of the Forest of Dean Badger Patrol, both my fellow members and I have witnessed many incidents involving cruelty to badgers.
We have seen cases where badgers, in their desperate attempt to free themselves from snares, have caused terrible injuries whilst trying to escape.
Other cases include pouring noxious liquids down their tunnels and destroying their setts by driving motorcycles over them.
In addition, we still have the ever present digging and baiting of badgers, where they are dug from their setts and then attacked by dogs.
This still occurs locally as well as elsewhere.
As a small voluntary group, our members work tirelessly to try to protect our badgers as best as we can, so it is encouraging to know that there are other kind people out there who are also willing to help.
Our thanks go out to them for trying to protect this badger and also to our friend Steve, from the Gwent Badger Group. His work with badger protection is well known to us.
It may be of some consolation to the would-be rescuers to know that over the past few years we have rescued over 60 badgers, many of which were road casualties, and with the expert help of our local vets we have been able to return well over half of these to the wild. Our thanks once again. – Dave Bayliss, badger welfare officer, Forest of Dean Badger Patrol.