“Today, we were acting nice. But don’t get me wrong, I will sit there in the bushes for hours and wait til [the farmers] set up the trap, then wreck it and if I can. I would put that trap through their bedroom fucking window.”
So says Ash*, as we walk through the green hills and fields of the south west England. Ash and a small group of radical animal rights activists are on the lookout for badger traps, cages hidden in the corner of fields, or spots where bait is buried for farmers to snipe the creatures from afar.
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“It only looks beautiful here on the surface,” Ash continues. “There used to be woods here. Now it’s just pasture, genetically modified cattle that we eat and badger cages all over. I think the countryside’s ruined for me now.”
Ash is a member of Underground Badger Syndicate (UBS), a radical animal liberation group taking direct action to sabotage – or “sab” – the badger cull.
UBS considers animal liberation part of a wider anarchist, anti-capitalist struggle to build a fairer world not just for humans, but for animals. Its members see themselves as taking a stand again “specism”.
“The idea human animals are somehow better than others because we have language or weapons or iPhones,” explains Ash. “Many people start joining us because they think, ‘who the fuck are you deciding who lives and who dies?’”
The badger has a hallowed place in British countryside lore, from The Wind in the Willows and The Animals of Farthing Wood to viral Flash videos. But not everyone shares this enthusiasm for the black-and-white mammals.
In 2013, the UK government began badger cull test run in parts of Somerset and Gloucestershire, aimed at containing the spread of bovine TB – a disease that affects cattle and is carried by badgers. Cattle can contract bovine TB by eating grass where infected badgers have left urine, faeces and other bodily fluids. The badgers themselves may not show symptoms.
Since then, the programme has expanded to 44 areas across England, including 11 new areas this year despite lobbying on the part of Carrie Symonds, Boris Johnson’s fiancée, and a government announcement that it would be phasing out culling.
Last year, more than 35,000 badgers were slaughtered, most of them shot dead, with less than 1 percent of kills monitored to check that they were carried out “humanely”. Typically, badgers are lured into cages or small holes filled with peanuts, before they are shot.
“When you see a badger in a cage, they’ve given up on life,” says Ash. “They’re diggers, so if they can’t dig anymore, they lie down and accept their fate. They shit themselves, and then they lie in their own shit. It’s horrible.”
We stop in a small woodland ravine, where Ash points to several holes in the ground. It is the entrance to a sett, an elaborate network of dens and tunnels that could be home to more than a dozen badgers. A shallow pit beside one of the entrances acts as a toilet, and the UBS members poke through the animal’s poo with a stick to check for peanuts.
Every day of the six-week culling season, which takes place in September and October, UBS activists scour woods and fields across the country looking for cages to smash, or fresh bait spots where they can later ambush farmers and disrupt their hunt. They are helped by a network of supporters and informers, which Ash claims number in the hundreds, if not thousands.
As we talk, a man with a dog appears from the direction of the badger sett. A USB activist follows him from a distance to see if he really is an innocent dog walker, or up to something else.
“The other night, there was fresh bait laid out so we knew where they were gonna be,” says Ash. “We heard a shot and everyone came running over, shining our torches, and they just ran away to their cars and fucked off. There’s an element of shame because most of the population doesn’t want badgers killed.”
Dog walkers and farmers aren’t the only characters you meet in the countryside at night.
“Once we ran into some doggers,” Ash says. “We saw a bunch of cars with the lights on, so we ran over there. From afar, it looked like two hunters skinning a deer on the floor, but there was just a bunch of naked people running around with only their trainers on. They were just as surprised as we were.”
Unlike other anti-cull campaigners, who operate in the open, UBS prefer to work at night, loitering in fields, wearing masks and trespassing.
“The Cult of Corn is a spooky group you don’t want to have around your farm,” reads a recent satirical UBS Instagram post. “They are attracted into your property by your cages, so either you stop or they will invade your fields.”
Ash admits that there is an element of intimidation to UBS tactics. “We’ve had shooters cry and pee themselves because we were there,” they say.
UBS does not promote or condone physical violence, but the group isn’t against ringing farmers at odd hours to ask why they’re taking part in the cull. In August, protesters showed up at the home of a Surrey company director organising a cull and graffitied “badger killer” outside. In September, another group of activists allegedly hacked the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) website and began publishing the names, addresses and phone numbers of farmers involved in the cull.
A representative for the NFU did not provide VICE News with comment on the alleged hack, criminal behaviour or harassment, other than rejecting the activists’ claims.
But for the farmers on the receiving end of UBS’ unusual tactics, the group is a real worry.
“Seeing my name on there [the NFU website], it’s a real pain and potential worry,” says one farmer contacted by VICE News who asked to remain anonymous. “Up til now we haven’t seen anybody, but I hope that when we do I’ve got enough backbone not to be intimidated. We’ve heard all those horror stories. What we don’t want is to come home with the bloody windows broken and buckets of dog shit all over the walls. I don’t particularly want them to come to my home and intimidate my wife.”
The farmer also points out that bovine TB can ruin the livelihoods of agricultural workers.
“In the course of a year, farmers might be buying young cattle then selling them on in the autumn,” he explains. “What happens when you get TB is you get an embargo on your herd. You can’t sell until your tests come back negative. So if they’re breeding cattle, the [infected] cattle gets destroyed and you’re affected financially immediately. We’re working men, not rolling around in Range Rovers. If you have something like this, it can be catastrophic.”
Despite how contentious the badger cull has become, there is still some doubt about its impact as a method for stopping the spread of bovine TB. Professor John Krebs, a zoologist at the University of Oxford, has commissioned a landmark study into the culling trial. “The cull has some effect, maybe a 20 percent reduction, but many scientists think that cattle-to-cattle transmission is more important,” he says.
Krebs continues: “Regular testing with a variety of tests and isolating infected animals would be a good strategy. The main test used – the comparative skin test – is very insensitive so there is probably a hidden reservoir of infection in herds. The government has begun to recognise that badger culling is not the long-term solution. They are trialling a cattle vaccine but that is probably a few years off.”
However, other studies suggest a larger reduction in TB following the badger cull. And for many farmers, the cull is more humane than animal activists make out.
“I’ve read that badgers shot with rifles take up to 20 minutes to die, but in my experience, we shoot at a very close distance and they’re dead instantly,” the farmer says. “I don’t think there’s any cruelty in it. All they know is one moment they’re foraging around; the next they’re dead, which is the best we can wish for ourselves.”
He adds: “If a miracle alternative was put forward, I’d be very happy to see it. Speaking for myself and most farmers I know, most wouldn’t want an environment without badgers, foxes; they’re part of the cycle of the countryside. But a level of badgers everyone can live with.”
For Ash and the UBS, the effectiveness of the cull is a moot point. “To be honest with you, I don’t care if the cull works, if it eradicates TB,” Ash says. “They shouldn’t be killing badgers, and farmers shouldn’t be farming cattle which is the main reason for greenhouse gases, for soya crops, and it’s ethically wrong.”
A spokesperson for Avon and Somerset Police, which covers the south west of England, said: “In Avon and Somerset, we’ve received six reports of harassment relating to the badger cull operation but none have been assessed as meeting the threshold to warrant further investigation. We always thoroughly assess reports of alleged criminality and will take proportionate action whenever necessary.”
They continued: “We have specialist liaison officers working with the farming community and those wishing to demonstrate their right to protest and our policing operation in response to the cull is built on the standards of fairness and impartiality.”
*Name has been changed to protect identity
