who have
regularly supported local “Farmers Markets” – up until now!
who
shake their heads as farmers take in millions of Euros in EU subsidies year,
after year, after year.
who
watch the wealthy large-scale farmers drive past in their 4x4 vehicles and
wonder why the NFU does so little for, and remains so silent over, the
plight of marginal sheep farmers in our Celtic fringes.
who have
witnessed outbreak, after outbreak, of deadly animal diseases which, in so
many cases, have been caused by poor animal care and husbandry.
who
witness the often oafish behaviour of farmers quaffing champagne in the
agri-business hospitality tents at County Shows.
who want
their children and grandchildren to grow up in a countryside rich in
wildlife, not in a barren slaughterhouse where the farmers have moved on to
“culling” every other wild species after they realise that eradicating
badgers didn’t solve the problem.
who
realise that tourism will totally vanish in the counties where culls are
proposed – the end for roadside farmers produce stalls and tea rooms. (And
we realise this because we are the people who are already cancelling annual
holidays in Somerset and Gloucestershire).
who are
baffled that these culls are still being proposed by an obstinate Government
after all the independent scientific evidence against them.
who are
truly distressed by the intemperate, obscene and threatening language now
being used on social media sites by so many pro-cull “activists”. That this
approach does their cause little service is small consolation; has the level
of public debate in the UK really fallen so low that the best they can do is
call other people “vermin”?
who
believe that mankind can and should do better than the random slaughter of
iconic creatures.
We are the people – we are “the activists” who have encouraged thousands of
people to join us in signing e-petitions protesting against the culls as opposed
to fewer than 100 people who have signed pro-cull e-petitions.
We are the people – and we will be there, peacefully, in our hundreds and
thousands, to bear enduring witness to your slaughter of our badgers if the
government doesn’t wake up, listen to science and cancel the culls.