We went out with the pickup and a spade this morning to see if any of the tilled fields were dry enough to sow. On the way we found a big dead badger in then road, so used the spade to fling it through the hedge before it got properly splattered all down the tarmac past the farm entrance, it's just not a great look to have 25kg of meat paste in front of the farm. On the way back, lo and behold a police car had parked where the badger had been, so we stopped and had a chat. Apparently 'a member of the public' had called Police Scotland to report a "wildlife crime", as two badgers had been "shot by a farmer, and the bodies left on the road a hundred yards apart so it looks like they'd been run over".
It transpires there was a 2nd badger, half a mile away, which the police had already picked up, and it was in an evidence bag in the back of their car. They wanted to know where the missing badger was, so I pointed through the hedge and wished them luck as they trudged off towards the gateway. Both badgers were to be taken to the SRUC lab at St Boswells, to have an autopsy / Xray to determine if there are traces of lead shot or bullets, and the police officer is "investigating the possible breach of firearms legislation".
Now I know that the police have to act on reports and they're just doing their job, but it would appear that this is a bit of a "thing" at the moment. The Police are being called out quite frequently by members of the public who suspect a 'wildlife crime', and by way of a knee jerk reaction call the police to blame the farmer. Two weeks ago another farmer about 10 miles away was cleaning out a ditch, but then reported to the police for "disturbing a badger set with a digger" by a vexatious neighbour, and promptly arrested and carted off to the station for an afternoons questioning. He was reported again the following week, presumably by the same neighbour. It's almost reminiscent of soviet style denunciations tbh.
In our case the policeman looked me in the eye as I explained that dumping evidence on a public road wasn't a good way to evade a crime, and he seemed to agree that badgers aren't famous for their road sense. Thinking about it later, with the fields being all tilled now, badgers are having to hunt the hedges and verges to find prey, as the slugs and hedgehogs haven't got any cover in the fields at this time of year. It also explains why I've been finding lots of partridge covies in the middle of fields at night when rolling after dusk. The long and the short of it is, some members of the public are clearly well into the wrong side of the 'Clever - Dumb' spectrum, and it looks like us farmers are going to have to get used to regular accusations from the police and wildlife regulators. As the tax payer is paying good money to autopsy roadkill badgers, is it really any wonder why the country is utterly skint?
The policemen were nice enough in fairness, but it won't stop them kicking in someone's door in the small hours if vexatious members of the public keep letting their imagination run wild. As a parting shot to the policeman, as he was getting his evidence bag out of the boot of the car where the other badger was already bagged up. I mentioned to them that if they get distracted by an emergency for the rest of the day, then don't leave the badgers parked in the sun over the weekend...
It transpires there was a 2nd badger, half a mile away, which the police had already picked up, and it was in an evidence bag in the back of their car. They wanted to know where the missing badger was, so I pointed through the hedge and wished them luck as they trudged off towards the gateway. Both badgers were to be taken to the SRUC lab at St Boswells, to have an autopsy / Xray to determine if there are traces of lead shot or bullets, and the police officer is "investigating the possible breach of firearms legislation".
Now I know that the police have to act on reports and they're just doing their job, but it would appear that this is a bit of a "thing" at the moment. The Police are being called out quite frequently by members of the public who suspect a 'wildlife crime', and by way of a knee jerk reaction call the police to blame the farmer. Two weeks ago another farmer about 10 miles away was cleaning out a ditch, but then reported to the police for "disturbing a badger set with a digger" by a vexatious neighbour, and promptly arrested and carted off to the station for an afternoons questioning. He was reported again the following week, presumably by the same neighbour. It's almost reminiscent of soviet style denunciations tbh.
In our case the policeman looked me in the eye as I explained that dumping evidence on a public road wasn't a good way to evade a crime, and he seemed to agree that badgers aren't famous for their road sense. Thinking about it later, with the fields being all tilled now, badgers are having to hunt the hedges and verges to find prey, as the slugs and hedgehogs haven't got any cover in the fields at this time of year. It also explains why I've been finding lots of partridge covies in the middle of fields at night when rolling after dusk. The long and the short of it is, some members of the public are clearly well into the wrong side of the 'Clever - Dumb' spectrum, and it looks like us farmers are going to have to get used to regular accusations from the police and wildlife regulators. As the tax payer is paying good money to autopsy roadkill badgers, is it really any wonder why the country is utterly skint?
The policemen were nice enough in fairness, but it won't stop them kicking in someone's door in the small hours if vexatious members of the public keep letting their imagination run wild. As a parting shot to the policeman, as he was getting his evidence bag out of the boot of the car where the other badger was already bagged up. I mentioned to them that if they get distracted by an emergency for the rest of the day, then don't leave the badgers parked in the sun over the weekend...
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