Ian Botham deserves to be a winner again – and he deserves to win Birdwatch magazine’s guano award for environmental harm as part of the YFTB team. So please vote for him here.
You’ll have to vote in each of the other categories too, but I bet you’ll find some familiar names and events to vote for or against in the list.
Surely the huge flocks of Siberian Accentors will be ‘the’ rarity of the year. Don’t you think?
The voting closes on Wednesday night so you’ll have to get on with it if you want your vote to count.
![By Jargal Lamjav from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://markavery.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Siberian_Accentor_Prunella_montanella_-_Сибирийн_хайруулдай_16435139700.jpg)
I find I don’t often disagree, but – While undoubtedly Beefy is a serial idiot, in terms of overall environmental harm I’m afraid the Badger Cull has to take it!
Only other idiots (Express etc) seem to believe anything emanating from YFTB. The sheer volume of people who now believe that Badgers are fair game as a result of the ‘trial’ cull beggars belief. It appears generally accepted by lots of the public that Badgers can now be freely got rid of. Just look at the councillors in Lincs suggesting that the Badgers on the Steeping River floodbanks should be shot and not dealt with in accordance to the law – after all, if they were in another county, it would be ok to do so.
YFTB forgetthe evidence to advance their narrow point of view, the Govt actively and willfully ignores the scientific evidence to bend over for the farming lobby, thereby lending it some degree of ‘respectability’. YFTB is a simple pressure group, the Government is the Government….
Do you mean Sir Ian Botham… [remainder of comment deleted]
Mark writes: yep, that’s the one, Rowan. But since under a variety of names you are simply coming on this post to be personally rude about me I think you need a little time on the naughty step. You behave like someone entering another’s home and spitting on the carpet. I’m sure you’ll find other outlets for your particular version of charm.
Roman, think it’s time for your leaves to drop off. Go to sleep until spring.
And Chris T, thanks for giving Lincs and badgers a mention.
It is a tough one – Botham and YFTB certainly merit an ‘award’ for their crass attempts to discredit conservationists and conservation organisations and the badger cull likewise is a strong contender. Unfortunately only one vote per category can be cast. In terms of environmental harm I think my vote will go to the Seville Port Authority though for their threat to damage the Coto Donana by dredging the river Gualalquivir. There are other categories in which the campaign against grouse shooting can be recognised positively!
Personally I won’t be voting for Botham, why bother giving him another platform to spout his rubbish, leave him to fester as a one time hero.
There are some very strong contenders in this category and it’s hard to think who would believe anything YFTB actually says. I am often left wondering why anybody would have been daft enough to create YFTB?
Incidentally on a completely unrelated matter George Monbiot in The Guardian has just written a piece on the power of misinformation campaigns carried out by vested interested business groups in the US:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/30/donald-trump-george-monbiot-misinformation