Posted on the 4th August 2013
On Friday 19th and Saturday 20th April, Animal Aid’s Battle Bus will be visiting Gloucestershire to urge residents to vote for badger-friendly candidates in the forthcoming local elections. The ‘bus’ – actually a converted ambulance with a screen fitted into its side – will be decked out in black and white artwork with this message emblazoned over it: badgers have friends… and those friends have votes. A specially-made short film will be shown on the side of the bus.
The Battle Bus will be in the following town centres:
Friday 19th:
10-12 noon: Quedgeley
1-3pm: Coleford
3:30-4:30pm: Lydney
Saturday 20th:
10-12 noon: Tewkesbury
1-3pm: Cheltenham
Campaigners from Animal Aid and Gloucestershire Against Badger Shooting will be handing out leaflets and campaign postcards (directed to Conservative Party Policy Minister, Oliver Letwin), and talking to local residents about the unnecessary and unethical cull. The two groups are members of Team Badger – a coalition of almost every animal protection organisation in the country. All are committed to stopping the badger cull, which is due to start in Gloucestershire sometime after June 1st.
Joining the campaign is the cosmetics and toiletries company Lush, which will be distributing the campaign postcards in all its 104 high street shops. From 19th April until May 2nd – the date of the local elections – all Lush shop windows will carry the same campaign message: badgers have friends… and those friends have votes.
Says Kate Fowler, Head of Campaigns with Animal Aid
‘The proposed badger cull is unpopular, unethical and unnecessary. The public doesn’t want it, scientists say it won’t work, and wildlife experts are queuing up to denounce it. Regardless, the government plans to forge ahead with this cruel policy, even though there is the option to vaccinate badgers instead. We hope that, come May 2nd, we will have only badger-friendly councillors in office in Gloucestershire, and that Oliver Letwin will take heed of the tens of thousands of votes that could be lost in a general election should the government insist on over-riding democratic opinion.’
Says Jeanne Berry from Gloucestershire Against Badger Shooting
‘We’ve spoken to thousands of local people in Gloucestershire about the cull and the overwhelming majority are firmly against it. All the political parties in the County Council elections, apart from the Conservatives, are against the cull and we are asking our supporters to contact the Conservative leader to ask them to change their minds before the election. We aim to get this message out across the county as the badger bus goes on tour.’
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