Hobby hunters who kill for pleasure could be responsible for the savage deaths of over 2,000 badgers dug from the safety of their setts and set on by dogs every year in Northern Ireland.
The Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will today (TUES) call on Stormont politicians to stamp out these heinous crimes by banning hunting with dogs and ensuring the law is enforced.
It comes following the release of their stark new report on the barbaric underworld of badger baiting, when a dog wearing a tracker is sent down protected setts to find badgers which are then dug out and killed by bigger dogs.
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The USPCA believes around 150 “violent men” and a few women are still targeting badgers using fox hunting as a smokescreen.
And if each of them killed a badger every two weeks between September and March, they say the death toll could be as many as 2,250.
While badgers are torn to shreds in the cruel and illegal activity, the dogs involved also suffer sickening injuries.
USPCA chief executive Nora Smith says: “Doing nothing is not an option.”
Despite the scale of the problem just three people have convicted for killing or injuring wild animals in Northern Ireland since 2011 out of 11 prosecutions.
“Badger baiting is a cruel and heinous crime,” added Nora.
“Every year thousands of helpless badgers and indeed other mammals are killed purely for the fun of bloodthirsty individuals engaged in this illegal act of cruelty.
“Our report highlights the shocking reality of badger baiting in Northern Ireland and the considerable weaknesses in the investigation, enforcement and prosecution of these violent and barbaric offences.”
The USPCA report suggests the individuals involved “get off on the blood lust and cruelty of pitting animals against each other to fight to the death”.
And that when they are not baiting badgers, they “are hunting foxes with their dogs”.
“This is the underbelly of fox hunting in Northern Ireland,” it adds.
“The dogs also suffer severe injuries from this fight to the death and these injuries are a rite of passage, giving kudos to the owners who brag about their exploits on social media.”
It also hits out at the “inadequacy of current investigative practice” and highlights what it described as “considerable weaknesses in the enforcement and prosecution of these violent and barbaric offences”.
“The USPCA and the Northern Ireland Badger Group have established Operation Brockwatch to protect badger setts with signage and cameras but further action is needed to protect badgers, dogs and other animals,” added Nora.
“Proper enforcement, a ban on hunting with dogs, and greater public awareness is needed to end this evil practice and protect defenceless badgers who should already be protected by law.”
On Tuesday at Stormont, the charity is calling for:
- MLAs to support legislation to ban hunting wild mammals with dogs
- Greater enforcement of the current law
- More public awareness to improve the reporting of offences
The last badger survey carried out by the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in 2007/08 estimated there were around 33,500 badgers in 7,500 social groups across NI.
Counties Armagh and Down have the biggest concentration of badgers, who because of the lack of NI woodland are forced to burrow under less secure hedges and scrub.
But the animals are protected across NI and GB and it is a crime to harm them, disturb, dog or block their setts.
The two areas of Northern Ireland with the highest concentration of known badger baiting offenders is South Down, Belfast and Newtownabbey.
Veterinarian David Martin BVSc MRCVS said: “The practice of badger baiting does not just destroy protected animals like badgers.
“It results in gruesome injuries to the dogs as well.
“Horrific injuries to jaws and teeth will often go untreated as perpetrators fear their involvement in this activity will be discovered, resulting in unnecessary suffering and cruelty.
“In the rest of the UK, since legislation outlawing hunting with dogs was introduced, there has thankfully been a marked decrease in this type of abuse against animals.”
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