Dead badgers on roadside (2 Viewers)

[d.steeley]

Since early spring this year I have seen a lot of dead badgers on the side of my local roads (south of Coventry). On one road in particular, the A445 on the stretch that runs between Ryton on Dunsmore and Lillington I have seen at least 12 dead badgers, with others seen on the B4455 Fosseway, the A423 Oxford road and several smaller local lanes. So I reckon I’ve seen around 20 this year which is many more than I would expect to see. I thought some might be the result of road kill, and some thrown there by people who don’t want them on their land and shoot them. This morning whilst listening to local radio, BBC C&W a chap from a wildlife sanctuary/reserve (sorry didn’t get his or reserves name) spoke about finding dead badgers on the roadside around Nuneaton that had been the victims of badger baiting. It seems it is not uncommon for this to happen. Has anyone else seen a greater number of dead badgers this year?

Dave

 

[rosbifs]

I don't think badgers have a great deal of road sense.

A successful set that is too close to the road will suffer. Overall I think they are doing 'too' well hence the publicity spinning around...

Whilst badger baiting inevitably goes on I doubt the impact is as great as a Ford or Renault...

 

[d.steeley]

I agree to some extent, but the number of dead badgers this year really does seem to be far greater than I have seen over the last 10 years. Also on the the 3 mile stretch of road with the most deaths, some of the badgers were near to one spot (so could be near to a set) but others were at different locations rarely close to each other. I don't think they are all road kill. I have also driven along this road many times in the dark and never seen a live badger.

Dave

 

[rosbifs]

http://www.binfieldbadgers.org.uk/about_badgers.htm

45,000 Badgers killed on the road every year out of nearly 288,000 is an amazing percentage 16%! I think they must have underestimated the numbers.

Anyway, this is clearly more than any 'baiting' or shooting fatalities.

Can't speak for your stretch of road but there is some sensible advice on the above website....

 

[honeym]

I´ve been told (but no proof, so some would say hearsay) that dead/injured badgers resulting from badger baiting are often left on the roadside with the intention of them being run over and thus masking the injuries caused and their real cause of death.

Martin

 

[Jon Turner]

Couldn't possibly be farmers exacting revenge for BSE could it?

 

[Robin Edwards]

I´ve been told (but no proof, so some would say hearsay) that dead/injured badgers resulting from badger baiting are often left on the roadside with the intention of them being run over and thus masking the injuries caused and their real cause of death.

Martin

I know this to be the case Martin from a couple of people I know who personally think they are doing justice to farmers by lamping & killing unwanted "vermin" which they treat as sport. The current cull pilots in Som & Glos is also likely to increase the incidents elsewhere where farmers think they have now have green-light to do as they see others doing under license.

I would advocate reporting any suspicious activity to the police although don't hold out much hope that they will respond favourably as the forces in the cull zones are demonstrating.

 

[saluki]

I´ve been told (but no proof, so some would say hearsay) that dead/injured badgers resulting from badger baiting are often left on the roadside with the intention of them being run over and thus masking the injuries caused and their real cause of death.

Martin

Are we talking about badger digging or baiting? Badger diggers, if they kill the badgers (and not all do, they want to test their dogs, not control badger populations), would surely be foolish to take the badgers away from the site, why not simply backfill the sett and leave the badgers there? Carrying a dead badger and several terriers in a vehicle is probably not a good idea.

Badger baiters might want to dispose of corpses but, again, dumping a dead badger out of a car is probably not the safest method of disposal. Badger baiting, in the truest sense, takes place in a pit. At one time dog and badger were pretty evenly matched and, horrifically, badgers were often kept alive after a bait, to fight again. The whole point of baiting was to test the 'gameness' of the dog, which had to draw the badger from box or tube. These days larger, pitbull-type dogs are used which can readily kill badgers. Death is probably a blessed relief.

Not saying dumping corpses by the roadside doesn't happen, but perhaps not as common as some seem to imagine.

Cheers
Jonathan

 

[honeym]

Baiting.
As I´m led to believe, the frequency depends a lot on which part of the UK one lives in.
Martin