This is not, incidentally, an altogether uncommon scenario here in the relentlessly picturesque and touristy Cotswolds….Signs of a shockingly grotesque so-called ‘sport’ indulged in by complete and utter local morons who absolutely delight in almost any opportunity to inflict as much pain, suffering and indescribable terror on a completely helpless wild animal as they inhumanly can.

It began for Tess and me late in the afternoon on Thursday, 29th January with Tess drawing my attention to a well-trodden though, in places, equally churned-up area of semi-scrubland. It was then that I noticed large quantities of Badger hair, mostly in blood-stained tufts, spread across an area roughly 25m x 25m. There was also hair, some black and some brown that I was able the following day to identify as coming from two very different dogs (though other sign at the scene indicated that at least three individual dogs were involved).

More blood (both Badger and dog) soon revealed itself to Tess plus a great deal of Badger track-sign revealing a complete spectrum of pressure releases confirming without a shadow of a doubt that some kind of protracted and extremely violent struggle had taken place involving at least three or 

(more likely) four individual animals. A fair degree of human-specific sign was also in evidence, including seven different types of footprint, two cigarette butts (both found by Tess) and several indentation marks made almost certainly by the pointy end of one of those shooting/walking-stick-instant-fold-down-seat- type thingys that are always so useful when you suddenly need to park your big fat lazy a*se while gorging yourself on all the excitement to be had from watching some poor terrified creature being torn apart (literally) by two or three blood-crazed killer dogs! Meanwhile, the tracks of three vehicles (two 4 x 4s and a van, the latter with double wheels at the rear) were also clearly visible about thirty metres away in a small, off-road parking area. Similarly, assorted footprints and other track-sign definitely belonging to the exact same humans as those at the scene of the Badger/dog ‘fight’ were easy for Tess and I to locate and follow both away from and back towards the vehicles. … ….Assuming that any animal killed in the fight (dog or Badger) would have be taken away

and disposed of, I was mildly surprised when Tess eventually led me to what was left of the the Badger’s carcass beneath a hedge about seventy-five metres from the fight site. It was relatively easy then to determine that the badger had, in fact, simply been left for scavengers at the fight scene and that a fox (possibly two) had dragged the dead animal to the cover of a hedge and begun feeding off it. Other scavenger sign was also apparent around the carcass, including Crow, Gull and Rat and, as is apparent from the photographs, not much is left after two or three days, including the skin and fur which, as far as I could tell, seemed to have been removed in one piece by a human using a very sharp knife immediately after the animal was killed, though I’m not really sure why. I am sure however, that this young Badger (note the lack of development of the sagital crest which gets higher in Badgers as the animal ages) was raised in captivity. Meanwhile, the lower incisor teeth show an abnormal degree of wear and tear, common amongst animals kept in confined spaces and cages far too small for them, whereupon they soon develop severe anxiety issues and chew constantly at the bars or wire….A feature amongst certain zoo animals back in the 1960s when I was a keeper, but better these days now that zoos concentrate on housing less than half the number of species they used to and providing more space and better conditions for the ones they do have. …

….An abnormally excessive amount of plaque and calcium had also built up on most of the animal’s teeth, indicating a very poor diet full of completely inappropriate food items (she was probably fed entirely on human leftovers). Such staining of the teeth used to be another common feature amongst zoo animals too back in the day, particularly with primates and caused almost entirely by idiot human primates throwing all kinds of rubbish from chewing gum to chocolate to lighted cigarette ends into cages and enclosures. By the way, if you fancy trying a really dangerous extreme sport, then have a go at removing the plaque from an adult male baboon’s teeth with a metal scraper when he’s not in the mood and tranquillisers and anaesthetics are deemed too expensive for such rudimentary procedures. I guess keepers were obviously more expendable than the animals in those days, though we didn’t really think about stuff like that at the time and just got on with it!

So basically, Here’s an animal that was probably kept captive for perhaps two years, kept in abysmal conditions, fed on garbage, probably terrified by dogs at every opportunity to make her both fear and hate them and finally released among a small crowd of dickless, witless, slavering, inadequate morons who set dogs on her and all in the name of sport. They even probably believe that by releasing her into the open, they were actually giving her more of a ‘sporting’ chance….Though the reality was she had no chance at all and was literally torn limb from limb as the humans, eyes bulging, cheered, jeered and shouted and the dogs bayed, growled and snarled and, in the middle of it all, an innocent, helpless young sow Badger who had never done anything to anyone screamed and screamed as she died a slow, agonising and terrifying death. ….and people genuinely wonder why I hate, loathe, detest and despise humanity so much.