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The 21st century badger baiters

DAILY MAIL
21 January 2012 | Danny Penman

They plot their sick fights on the internet, film them on mobiles and have bred a lethal new superdog to rip their prey to pieces

Badger baiting normally occurs in secluded places and the
perpetrators often go to great lengths to hide their crimes
----- 

A cold and crisp morning on the banks of the River Derwent, North Yorkshire.

The renowned wildlife artist Robert Fuller and his friend Ged Farmer were out walking along the beautiful river in search of otters to photograph.

‘Otters are very shy,’ says Robert. ‘So we crept along the riverbank making as little noise as possible.

'Even the sound of a twig snapping will send them diving for cover, so we were doing our best not to be noticed.’

As they approached the most picturesque stretch of the river, where it flows through the aptly named Paradise Farm, the silence was torn by a series of high-pitched squeals followed by the sound of barking dogs.

The pair peeked through the hedge and were confronted by a horrific sight: a badger being viciously attacked by two enormous dogs.

One dog had the badger by the throat while the other was tearing into its side. Fur was flying through the air. Entrails from a previous kill lay on the grass. Foetuses which had ripped from the body of a pregnant badger were cooling on the ground.

But the most sickening sight of all was the group of eight men goading on the dogs. Several were screaming with excitement. Others were laughing and joking every time one of the dogs attacked the badger.

Robert and Ged had unwittingly stumbled upon a badger bait — an illegal ‘fight’ where vicious dogs are set upon badgers that have been dug from their setts.

Although badger baiting was banned in 1835, the ‘sport’ has made a shocking return over the past few years, with people travelling hundreds of miles to watch the creatures being fought to the death. It’s being fuelled by petty criminals wishing to pit their prized dogs against one of nature’s toughest fighters.

‘It’s all about the dog,’ says Ian Hutchison, lead crime prevention officer for Operation Meles, a joint task force established by the police and animal welfare charities to counter badger crime.

‘Their attitude is, “My dog is tougher than yours.” The quarry is almost incidental.’

In recent years, badger baiters have bred a new type of dog known as a bull lurcher. This fearsome beast has the enormous jaws of a pit bull and the size and agility of a lurcher.

Its razor-sharp teeth effortlessly slice through flesh and its powerful jaws can splinter bone. They’ve been likened to greyhounds on steroids and christened the ‘Devil’s dog’, such is their ferocity. It was this terrifying new breed of dog that Robert and Ged saw attacking the badgers.

Caught in the act: One of Robert Fuller's photographs of Alan Alexander (left)
and William Anderson (right) badger baiting
--- 

‘I watched in sheer disbelief,’ says Robert. ‘It was a Sunday afternoon, right next to a public footpath, and we were watching a scene straight out of a horror story.

‘There were 13 dogs and they were being set upon the badgers in groups of two. I almost had to rub my eyes to make sure it was real.’

When the pair realised what was happening, they reacted with admirable speed. Ged went off to call the police while Robert crept a little closer and began photographing the men through a gap in the hedge. He managed to take dozens of photos before being spotted.

‘I knew they would be difficult to deal with,’ says Robert. ‘So I was relieved when they tried to hide the evidence and leave rather than attack me.

'Some people might say I was stupid for taking the photos — after all, those men are criminals and there could be repercussions.

‘But I felt so strongly about what they were doing that there was nothing else I could do. I just couldn’t allow such cruelty to go unpunished.’

The police arrived within minutes and arrested all eight men. What they subsequently discovered shocked even the investigators.

The men had dug an enormous hole — at least 4ft deep — into the heart of the sett to get to the badgers. The creatures had then been hauled out of it with steel ‘badger tongs’ and hit with spades to weaken them. They were then tossed to the eager dog.

Almost everywhere the police looked they found gruesome evidence of the fights
that had taken place. 'It was horrific and barbaric,' said RSPCA inspector Geoff Edmond
--- 

Almost everywhere the police looked they found gruesome evidence of the fights that had taken place.

The body of a badger with a gunshot wound (presumably to finish it off) was found buried at the scene.

A pregnant female — known as a sow — was discovered in a shallow grave nearby. Three of her foetuses were found scattered across the field. The tail from another badger was found, but the body was not recovered.

‘It was horrific and barbaric,’ says RSPCA inspector Geoff Edmond. ‘It was the worst case I’ve ever dealt with of badger baiting in almost 20 years as an inspector.’

Despite the overwhelming evidence against them, the baiters shrugged off the accusations and claimed to have been hunting foxes, pigeons and crows on a ‘rough shoot’. But their not guilty plea was dismissed by Scarborough Magistrates Court last month.

Seven of them were found guilty of a litany of cruelty offences and they were sentenced last week.

In recent years, badger baiters have bred a new type of dog known as a bull
lurcher. This fearsome beast has the enormous jaws of a pit bull and the size
and agility of a lurcher
--- 

Alan Alexander, 32, Richard Simpson, 37, and Paul Tindall, 31, all from York, and William Anderson, 26, from Pickering, North Yorkshire, were jailed for 16 weeks.

Christopher Holmes, 28, and Malcolm Warner, 28, both from York, received 12-week suspended sentences.

A 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was given a youth rehabilitation order.

Although the sentences the men received are some of the harshest ever handed out to baiters, they are unlikely to be deterred.

Six of the seven men have a string of convictions including attempted theft, trespass, assault and carrying a loaded air weapon.

Despite these convictions, at least five of the men legally possessed firearms — although their certificates have since been suspended.

It is tempting to write-off such men as mindless thugs, but they are, in fact, extremely cunning and use the latest technology to capture their prey

.
'There were 13 dogs and they were being set upon the badgers
in groups of two,' said Robert Fuller
--- 

It was revealed in court they had attached radio location collars to terriers which are put into setts to corner the animals underground while the men dig in. The collars allowed the men to track the terriers in the underground network of runs.

‘They were very efficient and hardened badger diggers,’ says Paul Stephenson, the sergeant from North Yorkshire Police who investigated the case.

‘It had been planned like a military operation.

‘The men had carefully removed the turf from the badger sett and placed it on the side ready to cover the hole when they’d finished.

‘If they hadn’t been disturbed, the bodies would have been disposed of and nobody would have known what had happened. They would probably have returned in a few months and done it all over again.’

Sgt Stephenson is quick to point out that baiting normally occurs in secluded places and the perpetrators often go to great lengths to hide their crimes. As a result, many incidents go unreported.

Even so, Operation Meles has confirmed 243 baiting incidents in 2009-10. The RSPCA recorded 355 incidents of badger persecution, including illegal snaring as well as digging and baiting, across Wales and England in 2010, compared with 255 reports in 2009

Baiting gangs will often travel hundreds of miles to dig out and kill badgers. The locations of favoured setts are often passed down from father to son (and, increasingly, from mother to daughter, too, according to police, who say women appear in ‘trophy pictures’ of badger baiting events found on seized mobiles).

In one infamous case from 1990, police seized Ordnance Survey maps from a baiting gang that contained the location of virtually every badger sett along the English and Welsh border. Such setts would be visited at least once a year.

Graham Hall, an undercover investigator for the League Against Cruel Sports who has infiltrated a number of badger baiting rings, likens them to football yobs.

‘They are true dedicated followers of their sport,’ says Mr Hall.

‘They take it just as seriously as a fan of Manchester United or Chelsea takes football. They tour the country following the performance of their favourite dogs at their favourite setts.

‘They think nothing about travelling hundreds of miles to do so. It’s a long-standing tradition for them.’

Where once such criminals would discreetly plan their fights in country pubs, they are now increasingly turning to the internet and social media.

 

  

Two of the baiters: Richard Simpson (left) and Alan Alexander (right)
were jailed for 16 weeks. Although the sentences are some of the
harshest ever handed out to baiters, they are unlikely to be deterred
--- 

A number of websites dedicated to baiting can be found, if you know where to look. Badgers and dogs are referred to as ‘pigs’ and the baits as ‘pig fights’. Such contests are often recorded using smartphones and uploaded to file-sharing sites on the internet.

‘The number of images found on the phones and home computers of baiters is staggering,’ says Ian Hutchison, of Operation Meles.

Recent convictions reveal this disturbing trend. When Northumberland Police seized 23-year-old Wayne Lumsden’s phone in 2009 as part of an unrelated investigation, they found video clips of dog fights and a lurcher being set upon badgers, foxes and cats.

In one scene, a lurcher killed a fox in a cage. In another, a dog was encouraged to attack a snared fox. Police also recovered footage of dogs attacking and killing a cat.

The 23-year-old, from Lynemouth, posted the videos on his social networking page and enthusiastically exchanged texts about his exploits with his friend Connor Patterson, also 23, from Northumberland. The pair were sentenced to 26 and 20 weeks in jail respectively.

In a similar case, last week Christian Latcham, from Tonypandy, South Wales, was sentenced by Rhondda Magistrates Court for carrying out ‘acts of unspeakable cruelty’ to a number of badgers. He received a five-month suspended sentence after police discovered footage of baiting on his mobile phone.

‘The internet is helping blood sports to establish a new following,’ says Mr Hutchison. ‘In the past, badger baiters had limited access to like-minded people.

‘The internet and social networks have helped them to make new contacts and establish networks while remaining anonymous. We are working hard to make sure it stops being such a safe haven for them.’

And what of Robert Fuller? Given the nature of the criminals that he helped put behind bars, does he fear for his safety? Not a bit of it.

‘I was brought up on a farm,’ he says. ‘Ferreting, shooting and fishing were a large part of my upbringing and I still hold a shotgun licence.

'It wasn’t easy to challenge those men, but it was an important thing to do. I had to stand up to them. Badger baiting is unbelievably cruel.’

Additional reporting by Lara Lambert

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