Road kill lies - Badgers

We have plenty of badgers here- and plenty of cows and no TB. Our field stone wall has signs of digging and latrines all along it- and I know where the nearest badger sett is- and this thread reminded me to go and badger watch one evening. I had to stop where I lived in the UK due to the rise of lampers, who were really aggressive.

Our latest rodad kills near our house are a bit different- 2 polecats recently... and, tragically, a young female lynx.

I saw a couple of young badgers on the road, yesterday on the way home. We call this the Silly Suicide Season, living in game country as we do the road is littered with young pheasants, foxes, rabbits, hares, badgers, deer - usually young animals with no road sense. It just seems worse when we see badgers.

I have a sister who has always said a little prayer when she sees a little corpse at the roadside. She moved up here and said that she spent the whole journey from her to me in prayer one day!

The local badger group will probably know of all the setts in that area too- and probably have suspicions as to which landowner is responsible- proving it is another matter though- even if they do find wounds or poisoning evidence.

In which case, they really should go and investigate and look for signs of shooting- or poisoning. Quite easy to spot a shot wound- or the tell take dark blood around the anus of a warfarin poisoning- and report to the police.

Badgers can be trapped. Not everyone will accept vaccinated cattle. I don't know all the ins and outs of badger vaccination but apparently they would n't need to vaccinate all of them for it to be effective.

Jingle, surely it would be easier to vaccinate the cattle than the badgers. Every tried catching a badger? I think the reason they will not go down the vaccination of cattle route is cost. It's cheaper to shoot and poison than vaccinate their herds. (my opinion)

I have informed the local Badger Group in that area. Given the number of badgers in the small stretch of road I agree with the lady I spoke with that it is illegal killing and dumping them on the road to pass as road kills.

Soutra- it can happen though. I used to deal with and collect inuured badgers in my area, and we had several cases where a badger was injured, and others tried to get it off the road or stand by to 'help' - and got killed too. But this is rare- and I do believe there is illegal killing going and put on the road to pass as road kills. If there are obvious 'hot' spots- I hope the local badger group will investigate and look for signs of shooting, poisoning or gassing,or even suffocating by slurrying the sett.

Can't blame the farmers. They should get vaccination of the badgers underway.

Can anyone tell me how it is that badgers are protected and at the same time, being killed as part of a national project?

I too have seen a surprisingly large number of dead badgers on the side if the road recently, far more than usual.

Agree Soutra very suspicious. I have mailed my concerns to relevant parties.

I too suspect I see too many dead badgers within a relatively short distance by the roadside for it to be just down to "road kill"

I understand regarding the males being thrown out of the setts but this was really suspicious. Two larger adults and three (probably last years young) lying within a few yards of each other.

I have contacted the Badger Trust.

Each region of the country has a local Badger Trust group- look up the Badger Trust Website and then contact the local group rep to pass on your observations and location if you find groupings of road kills which look suspicious.

It is however a time of year when last year's males are being thrown out of the sett to go and find a new clan- and we did notice lots of dead badgers on our way from Midlands to Dover yesterday too.