' Badger People ' earn high praise from Chris Packham

Badgers at BROCKenhurst Anima Event

The image which represents the venue of the Anima Event is that of the badger.
Any town or village which includes the name Brock indicates an ancient presence of this much venerated and more recently often abused creature.

It is only fitting that the badger should feature in the Anima Event at Brockenhurst Village Community Centre on Saturday 30th September.

The Badger Trust will be there promoting their recently launched campaign, ‘ Give Badgers A Brake ' to encourage reporting sightings of badgers killed due to road traffic allowing the trust to ascertain hotspots where badgers are continually being killed and to then lobby for improved mitigation. Reports can be made online at https://www.badger.org.uk/report.

Traffic is the number one threat to badgers in the UK. Recent surveys, have estimated that 50,000 badgers are killed every year, making badgers the most numerous victims of road traffic accidents of all UK species.

The Chief Executive of the Badger Trust and Policy Adviser to the Born Free Foundation Dominic Dyer is one of the UK's leading wildlife protection campaigners, broadcaster and writers.

He took up this role after a career in government and industry. Now he uses skills he acquired in Whitehall, Brussels and the Corporate Board Room to fight for the protection of animals at home and abroad. He is a regular speaker at wildlife protection protests, conferences and exhibitions and a contributor to the print and broadcast media on a wide range of issues ranging from the badger cull and wildlife crime in the UK to the protection of dolphins, lion and elephants around the world.

In August 2016 Dominic published "Badgered to Death” a hard hitting and controversial book which looks at the demonisation of the badger over the last 40 years and how it is now being killed in large numbers for short term political and economic interests.

Chris Packham says
“ I am a great fan of Dominic Dyer. Like many others I am in awe of his passion, drive and commitment, of his values and motives and of his profound determination to highlight injustice, resist apathy and campaign for wildlife protection"

Dominic will talk in depth about writing his book Badgered to Death and the wider political and economic issues concerning the protection of wildlife at home and abroad to be followed by a wider debate on the issues raised with the audience and a book signing.

Another “Badger person” greatly admired by Chris Packham is the world famous pioneer of natural history film making and photography Eric Ashby MBE. The Event offers a unique opportunity for people to see a very wide range of Eric’s work and to purchase them.
Eric Ashby (1918 – 2003) shared his love of the New Forest with the world through his wildlife films. He believed that wild animals should be filmed behaving naturally, and his high standards of still photography and film-making in the wild became his hallmark.
He was an extraordinarily patient man, visiting a site on 90 occasions to record just one minute of film about a badger. He was the first to capture the behaviour of badgers in daylight. In the early 1960s, his films brought an air of delight and wonder. He created the first artificial Badgers Sett which allowed him to reveal the intimate daily life of this delightful creature in his film “At Home With Badgers’.
An ardent conservationist, he founded the first New Forest Badger Group in 1969.

Chris Packham says

“Eric and his wife Eileen were a great source of encouragement to me when I was younger and a little more fragile. A lovely man. And every time I campaign against the horror that is fox hunting I think of him and hope I do his memory justice .”

The Anima Event is at Brockenhurst Village Community Centre on Saturday 30th September. There will be over 30 stalls and all of the exhibitors at the event are, in their own way, helping us all to have a gentler footprint on the planet which we share.

The event has been organised by No More Dodos a charity which uniquely uses Art and Sport to inspire change in our lifestyles.
If you are in any way interested in animals and the planet we live on, this should be the day for you.
Please do share and put it in your diary right away!
http://www.nomoredodos.org/events/

Entrance to Anima is a very affordable suggested donation of £2.50 per person and £5 for a family.

For all press and other enquiries please call Geoff Francis on 07581221462
Photo reference available.