UPDATE July 13th:
Great news! The appeal by the Badger Trust has been upheld in the court of appeal. The cull will no longer take place. Here is a good report of the decision.

UPDATE June 11th:
Good news!
The badger cull has been put on hold pending the result of the appeal to the high court by the Badger Trust. The appeal is due to be held on June 30th.

Here is the BBC report.

Also, the song 'Brock' has re-appeared on YouTube, here.

UPDATE June 9th:
The most recent BBC report from last night - still not realising the strength of feeling in this area about this, nor taking on board the human rights or animal rights implications, but nevertheless useful:
by Richard Black, BBC environment correspondent.

June 6th - some recent news items on the cull - select the line, copy and paste into your browser:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/somerset/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8722000/8722660.stm
http://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/8203196.Questions_in_Senedd_over_badger_cull_clash/sened
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/countryside-farming-news/country-farming-columnists/2010/06/01/badger-cull-v-100m-tb-bill-91466-26559450/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/10199015.stm

Today there was a picnic on the beach at which Charlie Sharp sang a song 'Brock'. Since YouTube now withdraw everything I put up, apparently, without saying why, here is an attempt to show it directly:

This is the text of a letter sent from Felicia, a member of the Brithdir Mawr community, to several local members of the Welsh Assembly on May 20th. It gives a good account of the badger cull developments. Since that day we have received no visits from WAG representatives, and we hope that they are rethinking their entire policy, since vaccination would be much kinder to the badgers and would cost less money. A good blog to read is that of Peter Black AM, Lib Democrat assembly member who opposes the cull. Here is Felicia's letter:

On Tuesday morning, a WAG official by the name of Thomas McCabe (ID HH00002) arrived with two masked men (dressed in black with balaclavas, ID numbers L2002059 and L2002009) on our land and entered into our gardens without making any prior appointment. This is in spite of the fact that I wrote to the governments' animal health department to request an appointment be made if WAG contractors come to us for a badger sett survey (see below my correspondence, to which I never received a reply) and in spite of a letter we received from him dated 16th of May 2010 which said: "You will be contacted prior to any surveying work being undertaken on your land".

In earlier correspondence from WAG dated 16th of April 2010 it says: "ALWAYS ask officials to produce their identification. You should not allow entry without seeing the identification card. If you are in any doubt, contact the IAPA Landowners helpline on 0800 4961439 to verify their identity."

We asked Mr McCabe to leave our property until we could ascertain his identity, and he walked to the top of our track. We filmed our discussions and asked him to produce identification for himself and the masked men. He showed us his ID, but refused to show us those of the masked men due to the fact that we were filming. I went back to the house and called the WAG landowners helpline, where I was informed that I was indeed entitled to check their IDs. I returned to the road and made this clear, and was then shown the IDs and wrote down the ID numbers. I told Mr McCabe that he was not welcome on our land until I had called the WAG helpline once again to verify these ID numbers. This was reiterated by my partner, Jamie Smith, approximately five minutes after I left the scene. They ignored him, and entered our land once again without waiting for me.

In the meantime, I spoke to a Miss Williams of the landowners helpline, who assured me that the ID numbers were correct. I informed her that I was unsure that I could identify the men properly due to the balaclavas. She said she would find out for me whether they needed to remove the balaclavas for proper identification and would call me back. A housemate of mine went up the track to inform Mr McCabe (who had already proceeded on to our land once again) that we were still awaiting a reply from WAG, and we request that he wait at the top of the track until our identification procedure was complete. At this point, two of our community members were arrested under the animal health act, presumably due to standing in front of our gate to prevent the men entering our land before proper identification procedures had been completed. They were taken away to Haverfordwest. Much later on in the day, they were released without charge.

Upon my return, which was immediately after I was called back by Miss Williams, I informed Mr. McCabe that I had been assured by Miss Williams that I must trust the policemen to identify the masked men. We made no attempt to prevent them from entering our land. However, I did ask Mr McCabe whether they had public liability insurance, which seems a perfectly reasonable question to ask of any contractors entering one's land. After he refused to respond to this questions, Mr McCabe returned back up the track with his contractors and the police officers without having been asked to do so by any of us.

From this point onwards, the end of our track turned into something from a movie. There were up to 24 policemen outside our property at one time, with six police vehicles at one time. During the course of the day, hundreds of police hours were wasted standing around outside our property, although Mr McCabe had been assured that we were perfectly peaceful, and no threats were made at any point.

What shocked us more than anything else was that Mr McCabe confirmed to us that masked men such as these contractors may return in the future onto our land, armed, unidentified, without our consent, in the middle of the night. We know they are after badgers, but surely this goes against our liberties? Would you not be scared to walk on your land at night if you had been told by a government official that you need not worry if you see armed men in balaclavas? Does this not leave us vulnerable to all sorts of other crimes? Is this not against human rights?

Although all the police constables on site that day were perfectly friendly and we knew that we had not done anything to contravene any laws, they were nonetheless intimidating. Some parked approximately 200m from our entrance, and Mr McCabe was constantly hiding away with them to discuss with them. What plans were they hatching? Why were they kept secret from us? Why were there so many of them? Why were our friends unlawfully arrested?

We were kept very ill informed all day long. When I asked a police constable (officer 964) how many officers were there in total, he made an (admittedly funny) joke about how it was like in that scene from The Life of Brian where they raid the flat. This could be seen as intimidation, and as making associations in our minds between that situation and ours, where no raid was legally warranted. I called the Powys police headquartes professionals standards department (tel 101, as given to me by the police boss that day, Steve Matchett) and was told that my concerns regarding the vast quantity of policemen, the wastage of public money and the fear and intimidation we felt were being taken seriously, and that I would be called back asap by a qualified representative. I never received that call.

I hope my detailed account of what happened will help you understand the terrible predicament we are now in. I scared one of my fellow community members stiff last night just because I went outside at night with a torch to hunt for slugs in our vegetable gardens. We do not wish to live in fear, and request that you confirm to us that we need not live in fear.

I do not wish to bore you with details of my opinions about this badger cull, but obviously you are aware that we are not just badger-hugging hippies with no idea of the science. It has been scientifically documented that neither a cull (England) or extermination (Ireland) result in a reduction in bovine TB cases, quite to the contrary. We feel that this whole issue is a political farce to keep the farmers happy, who are so desperate to have something done about the tragic amount of TB in their cattle that they are even willing to have something done that is totally scientifically unfounded and destructive to our native endangered wildlife. If you happen to have some genuine scientific interest in the matter, I would be more than happy to provide you with all the scientific papers you need to argue against this cull. My qualifications are exactly the same as those of the men in balaclavas who claimed to be ecologists. They looked ashamed of themselves,
one of them even nodded repeatedly when I spoke to them about the science behind this, and confronted them about the fact that they know this cull is scientifically unjustifiable. I understand that they simply want to keep their jobs in an ecological field, but they should not be forced by our government to act against their own better judgement.

I thank you for your time and consideration of my issues and look forward to hearing your detailed response.

Yours sincerey,

Felicia Ruperti

A video that I took of the last three minutes of the event, showing the balaclava'd men, in a police cordon, stopping down our drive, and returning to their car, was withdrawn from YouTube under pressure from persons unknown. Here is a small video of developments prior to that on the same day, May 18th 2010.

MAY 10th, 2010

This notice has appeared in two places on the footpath that goes through Brithdir Mawr, on May 10th 2010. We have received no information or requests of any kind from anyone about this.

The Welsh Assembly has decided to try to exterminate all badgers in this area, together with cattle control measures, to try to reduce the incidence of bovine TB in cattle. If it works they will extend the cull to the whole of Wales. Their decision is based on the same science that influenced the English government NOT to kill badgers but vaccinate instead.This is the text produced by seven of us living in this valley and read out to a loud supportive reception to a packed public meeting on 15th Feb.

We are deeply saddened and shocked by the decision to cull badgers. We feel strongly that we cannot co-operate with this action on grounds of conscience. For us, killing is not a solution; coming from a place of fear, it will only compound the lack of balance that already exists on the land. It will solve nothing and will have repercussions by further disrupting nature. We are all part of the web of life.

We are aware that many modern farmers have been subject to a series of policies that have dehumanised the farming process in a landscape that is already degraded and impoverished in places. A good look at the land around us reveals two attitudes at work. One controlling nature to maximise output, and the other working with nature to keep balance and to enhance biodiversity. The left hand of the Welsh Assembly Government seems to be promoting one thing while the right hand promotes the opposite.

If we do not live with love and respect for our companions in the natural world we risk exploiting them, and these consequences are becoming evident in some modern farms. If humans live crowded together in stressful conditions that are not conducive to happiness, with poor sanitation, we, too, suffer from disease.

It is now clear that we are at a turning point: whether we allow to persist a system that puts profit above balance, and is willing to kill innocent protected species to gain temporary respite from these systemic problems, or whether we take a stand in maintaining our integrity as stewards of a living landscape. There are other ways of dealing with bTB, and we are sure that there are other creative solutions.

This proposed killing programme is against morals, basic spiritual truths, and ethics. It is a step too far that we must not, and will not, take. We call upon the Welsh Assembly to stop the cull now, while there is still time.

Feb 2010. If you wish to find out more or join the campaign to stop the cull, click here

Emails to the relevant minister should be addressed to: correspondence.elin.jones@wales.gsi.gov.uk.

This cull is planned to last for four years. It will divide this community, set neighbour against neighbour, and result in a huge loss of respect for the Welsh Assembly, because so many people round here will just not take it lying down. Please pass this on in any way you can. Thanks.