Richard Meyer’s The Fate of The Badger is arguably the most comprehensive and well-informed account of the modern history of badger persecution in Great Britain. This well-researched book deals in detail with the successive British governments’ war of attrition against this much loved native mammal. First published 30 years ago, Richard’s research and commentary is as relevant now as it was then. This new edition is brought right up to date with a new chapter covering more recent developments as well as two new appendices dealing with Wales and Ireland.
‘Richard is one of the best nature writers we have and our parallel lives and books have seen the fate of badgers swing one positive way and then swing back to these negative, dark days he describes so well. His new edition of a classic study of badgers is a must read for everyone and brings things right up to date.’
Putting the 'con' into consultation and the 'fiction' into science: England's badger cull
by Lesley Docksey
‘Richard has a penetrating insight into the development of this country's policy of bovine TB management having been closely involved, sometimes at a personal level, for more than three decades. In my view he has hit on the shameful truth about why we are still killing badgers - political expediency and dogma.’
Dr Chris Cheeseman, Bovine TB expert
‘Every key issue in Richard’s book is as relevant today as when he put pen to paper 30 years ago. If our political leaders and the farming industry had taken note of Richard’s wise insight, today we would not be seeing tens of millions of pounds wasted on killing mostly TB free badgers, in a cruel culling policy which has no scientific or animal welfare justification.’
Read Richard Meyer’s piece on badger culling in the Guardian
The fate of the badger - What can pride and prejudice teach us about the fate of the badger?
by Richard Meyer
The Fate of The Badger by Dr Richard Meyer
Foreword by Dr Chris Cheeseman Paperback 176 pages Price £9.50 + P&P
‘At that time, the poor circumstantial evidence behind the eradication of our largest surviving terrestrial carnivore appalled me, as it did many other naturalists. The more I looked into it, the more alarmed I became. In fact, it made me a scientist.’
‘Scientists know the right course to take but pride and prejudice have blinded governments - urged on by farmers - into believing a myth implanted in their minds for two generations.’
