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Then one day last October the bombshell
fell. I received a phone call from the
Police. Three men had been apprehended in
an Essex wood in which there was thought
to be an active badger sett. Could I verify
that there was a badger sett in the wood?
The men were subsequently charged under the
Badger Act with "Attempting to take badger".
This started alarm bells ringing and the
Mammal Society Survey Area was immediately
increased to include the affected 10 km
square. Dennis Kell and Paul Skinner
(Mammal Group Committee Members) and their
"other halves" Anne Hughes and Chris Skinner
visited all 58 recorded setts in 4 weekends.
To our horror one in every five setts had
been dug into. The number of active or
occupied setts had fallen by 50%. A
suspicious pit, believed to have been
constructed for baiting purposes was found
in secluded woodland.
The Essex Naturalist Trust were informed
and sent out several Press Releases on
the subject. The result was a flood of
information about diggers seen at setts,
or men with terriers in woods where
searches have revealed previously unrecorded
setts.
The Essex Naturalist Trust Badger Group has
been launched in an attempt by concerned
naturalists to do something. The attendant
publicity has brought yet more information
on diggers and baiting. What you may ask
is going on? Basically badgers are taken
from their setts by men who first send in
small terriers which, when they locate a