Saturday, June 13, 2020

On Badgers

By day they are an uncommon sight
Badgers are nocturnal animals of the night
Sturdy grey medium dog sized on their faces a large strip of white
They always leave their setts in the twilight

And replace their old bedding with clean fresh bedding for the next day
They are rather clean creatures of them one can say
By human beings kindness to them seldom shown
Years of persecution their sort of have known

Badgers scientifically classified of the weasel family
Like cattle are prone to be infected by T B
Due to government funded programs to their removal in many a countryside
Thousands of these innocent poor creature have died

On that badgers spread T B to cattle not all experts do agree
Some say it is the other way round is how it seems to be
In every countryside where badgers have been eradicated T B in cattle remain
The friends of badgers who claim they are slaughtered needlessly this in their case does explain

The World's strongest and fiercest dog would not beat a badger in a fight
In Badger the famous poem by the great Helpston poet John Clare the poet got it right
In the poem it took a village of people and all of their dogs to bring one badger's life to an end
For the survival of their species badgers are in need of their every human friend

Badgers they do have a good appetite
As well as grass and worms and tubers they dig for they have snails in their diet
Some who claim themselves to be experts say they are spreaders of  T B
Though others quite well informed with this do not agree.

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