Launch of Badger Campaign
A UK-wide badger campaign is to be launched, chaired by Richard Crompton, Association of Chief Police Officers lead on wildlife crime. The campaign, named Operation Meles, is a UK-wide intelligence-led police operation gathering evidence of badger persecution and targeting offenders.
Mr Crompton, chief constable of Lincolnshire, will chair the keynote meeting in Sheffield, which takes place on the 20th September, and he will also deliver the opening address.
The launch is just one of a co-ordinated series of public meetings and press conferences to promote Operation Meles, all of which will include details of a report called UK Badger Incidents 2009-2010, which exposes all the known extent of badger-related incidents in the UK.
The report is based on data compiled by the National Wildlife Crime Unit and is written by Ian Hutchinson, the UK crime prevention lead for Operation Meles.
Mervyn Anthony, director of the Badger Trust, said: "Badgers are not only cruelly baited but also sealed in setts and buried alive, snared, shot, poisoned and tortured but most of these crimes go unreported."
He added: "This new report reveals only the tip of the iceberg and we are appealing for the public as well as our own badger group members and supporters to record and report any evidence."
To aid public reporting, the Badger Trust will be distributing special Operation Meles witness evidence notebooks to ensure that evidence is quickly, correctly and consistently record.
More information is available here.
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