Updates from the Cull Zone. Day 37 / 198. Well, it has been a strange 24hours, busy for sure, but with a varied mix of activity. Sett-checking happened as expected throughout the day with just about the expected amount of rain, waterlogged socks and fields upon fields upon fields... So nothing new there. Apart from the odd new bait point and so on! Some flooding has been spotted around a few areas of the zone, impeding access to land for us and shooters alike and meaning we can prioritise some areas to keep an eye on based on where access will be easiest into large bits of land. Fog has been getting gradually thicker over the last few hours as well, making it a little harder to see or shoot. This did not stop Lee Peters attempting to run people over in the west during an incident in the late evening or a black pick-up in the Hartpury area driving like a maniac. The police were called to ensure other road-users safety as this last vehicle left the road at one point and ended up in a field which it drove around before speeding back off down the road, crashing into hedges, fences and the odd wall on its way... We hope that the sabs in the west are feeling alright now after their experience with Mr. Peters earlier as he came close to killing them with his driving. And hes not the nicest of people to be around even when on his best behaviour! Well be catching up with them in the later hours of the morning to see how theyre doing... The lovely Hedley Midwinter also made an appearance on a few occasions - keep an eye out for him and call us as we want to know his whereabouts on a regular basis! Meanwhile... Another sab group was pulled over by the police in the south of the zone and, when police were asked why they had stopped the group, they didnt seem to have much of an answer. They did like to ask (repeatedly) how long the people would be out for. As the group called into the office for legal advice and to update us, we got on to the phone to our police liaison who made his way to the scene. In the meantime, police pinned the lone car in with several of their vehicles and threatened to smash windows in order to gain access to the car (which was obviously going nowhere) if the males in the vehicle would not give their details. Finally quoting some vague section of PACE, they said that they had evidence of one of the males being involved in criminal activity... Upon further questioning, police almost made a number of the group cry with laughter as they informed them that they believed a Mr. Norfolk was present in the vehicle who had been involved in smashing up a Bristol Post Office in 2011. Not only completely unbelievable (let alone, irrelevant, even if he did exist and even if he were in the car) but you just couldnt make it up! Well, apparently they managed to... Perhaps they wanted to stall the sabs whilst shooters were going about their business. Luckily for the local badgers, it seemed that sett-monitors nearby anticipated such a tactic and remained in the area to deter shooters. And, sure enough, a shooters vehicle was soon spotted leaving the area. More police were also found trying to distract a group whilst another shooter drove out of an area in the East. Again, the question of how long theyd be out for was brought up... methinks it may be intel. gathering and not just a friendly chat (whod have thought it!) - several groups of police officers seem to wish to know such information lately. To their credit, another group of officers did actually take a situation where a sett had been blocked seriously and accompanied anti-cull people on to land where they had unblocked the entrance for the badgers - when a sett has its entrances fully blocked, our badger expert tells us they have about 24hours normally before they suffocate. Call us, the RSPCA and the police, but always make sure that there is a way for air to get into the sett! It is not illegal to unblock a sett which has been tampered with... although do be careful as setts have been gassed and blocked in the past. With our lack of Updates from the Cull Zone. Day 36 post yesterday, we failed to let you know about another incident. The location can not be disclosed, but police are looking into the pouring of diesel into a number of sett entrances (in fact, every sett entrance in the area concerned). You may remember a video we posted last week of cull operators being found in the vicinity of one of these setts, diesel having been poured into the entrance just the day previous. So its been eventful to say the least. The standard kinds of activity were also noted - vehicles turning up and turning away upon sight of sett-guards, spotter vehicles spotted in various areas, body vans arriving in the zone with suspected caging vehicles and, of course, the usual mistaking-one-of-our-own-for-a-shooter every now and then! ...luckily this occurs about only once a week :) Join the final push! GBO
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 03:56:38 +0000
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