I am the quiet one always minding my own business
Resting during the day, at night prodding and shuffling
I love my subterranean home with carefully dug out tunnels
I feel secure here and at peace
Weather is not a problem, up above let it rain
But here I am free and safe and fine

I wear my black stripes with pride
And love my snout which finds me worms
I am neat and tidy, depositing my what’s its in pits
I am quite happy to be doing my own thing
But they often badger me, blame me for this and that
But don’t I have a right to go about as I please?

Sometimes I hear my kin are baited, homes dug out altogether
I am treated like some vermin to be detested
They say we spread bTB but we are affected too you know
Tuberculosis and enteritis, pneumonia and rabies and more
Not our fault, is it, when there are herds of them all over
And anyway what do we know about defending ourselves?

They know it is contagious so why don’t they find a cure?
And vaccinate, and find a vaccine for us
Why the obsession to destroy us? I wonder
Help to keep the cattle fit, so farmers don’t feel the pinch
Or keep us away from dear milkers
Draw a line and put up a defence keeping us both from harm!

They talk about a cull but they mean slaughter
And where and when will it end and who will be there to check?
But remember we are an enduring lot, been around a million years
And if you push us out, we’ll just wait and back we’ll come again
We always come back so there has to be some other solution
I am the quiet one and all I want is some peace

Rasik Bhadresa

N.B. On 4 July 2008 the government announced that they would not pursue badger culling as a way of controlling bTB in cattle and would instead invest in research on vaccines.