We are committed to encouraging through knowledge the integration of wildlife into our countryside's and gardens along side us in a natural balance
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Badger Cubs
Each year we rescue and rehabilitate badger cubs and successfully release them back into the wild where they belong. We carefully survey and monitor any release sites to ensure that the area can accommodate a badger sett. we must ensure we don't interfere with the balance and that the sett is placed a determined distance form extisting established setts. We are fortunate to have the support of some large land owners. We establish a location for next years setts this year to ensure all cubs have a home. We also triple test our cubs for TB. We have been very successful in our release programs and our on going monitoring. This information not only helps us to understand badgers but also gives us valuable information to improve our ongoing programs. There is a balance of care and duty to ensure these secretive and protected mammals are not only "human weary" but also have the ability to defend themselves from other badgers and are able to forage well. Our strict program allows for both. Not only is it successful but it is extremely rewarding. If you have a sick injured or abandoned badger cub please contact us on 0795 508 0901
How can you not love these? They are like little bears. They are stunning and fascinating to watch in the summer with their group and with cubs They are very clean animals and clear out their home daily and even have their own toilets. Badgers can live in a set for years and one family can have up to 12 badgers. They sometimes have winter and summer quarters. During the winter they can spend days at a time underground sleeping. They are a really tight community and protect each other well from other badger groups known as clans or cetes. Badges are one of the few creatures to have delayed implantation. This means they can have their babies when they choose. Sound pretty good to me. Badger are rarely seen during the day.
If you find an injured or abandoned badger please contact a vet or your nearest wildlife rescue immediately. If you have a trapped badger do not approach it in a confined space they can be very fierce fighter. A small cub can give a very nasty nip so be careful too if you need to take it to a vet or wildlife rescue you will need a safe strong box or ask a rescue place to collect.
Badgers live in woodland areas but they can appear in the garden looking for food. They scratch the grass for bugs, grubs and larva that lay just below it's surface and have no respect for a well turned out lawn. They are very set in their ways and and cover a fixed area.
They are active at dawn and dusk but cubs often come out in daylight if food is scares. In 1997 a survey estimated that there are about 50,000 social badger groups. Accounting for approximately 310,000 badgers. It's estimated that 10,000 to 20,000 badgers die at the hands of diggers. Badger baiting was banned in 1835 but still exists today in many areas.
Some pretty shoddy science implicating badger as the main culprit in the spread of Bovine TB has seen badgers culled in the last few years. The proposed cull in Wales has been given the go ahead. It is the world gone mad again. In the Uk we opted for the vaccine. It is incredible in this century that we are killing wildlife based on myths and hypothesis. We are losing creatures form our planet through ignorance. We all have a responsibility to address these issues and ensure that no more creatures will be wiped out or persecuted.
Badger will eat cereal based dog food, meat, peanuts and fruit this can help badger cubs survive in a hot dry summer. Badgers are creatures of habit and if food is left regularly they will come to expect it and can be nuisance if you stop feeding. Badgers are very clean and have a latrine.
Badgers in your home
Anyone interested in the re-locating injured badgers or providing homes for orphaned cubs should contact us to discuss further. Badgers can be encouraged into your garden and synthetic setts can be built, these are used in relocation situations. Contact us for more details and advice on badgers
This is a typical road traffic injury. This lucky fellow, Brocklyn, survived after a few stitches and some rest and TLC.
He was returned to his home fit and well, where he belongs.
Badger Facts
Life span
Up to 14 years.
Statistics
Head and body length: 65-80cm, Weight: 8-12kg.
Physical description
Eurasian badgers are easily recognizable by the conspicuous black and white stripes running from the nose to the shoulders. They are stocky animals with short black legs and silvery grey backs.
Distribution
Badgers range from Europe to Japan and S. China. In Britain, badgers are most abundant in south west England, Wales and small areas of north east England.
Habitat
They generally prefer forest and grassland.
Diet
Badgers feed on earthworms, frogs, rodents, birds, eggs, lizards, insects, bulbs, seeds and berries.
Behavior
Eurasian badgers are nocturnal and emerge from their setts at dusk. They live in family groups, or clans, of up to 12 individuals, which occupy a shared territory of 125-375 acres. The boundaries of the territories are marked out with odor and defended. Badgers inhabit underground burrows called setts which consist of several chambers, passages and entrances and are used by successive generations of badgers. Nesting material is often carried out of the sett in the day and aired in the sunshine.They are gregarious and will indulge in playful romping, which helps to strengthen their social bonds.
Reproduction
Badgers exhibit a breeding phenomena known as delayed implantation, which means that they can breed at any time of the year. The purpose is to ensure that young are produced at a time when temperature and food conditions are at their optimum. After mating, they keep the fertilized eggs in the uterus in a state of suspended development until they are implanted in the uterine wall, usually after 10 months. After a further gestation period of 7-8 weeks, they give birth to a litter of 1-6 cubs.
Conservation status
Badgers are not considered endangered but numbers have been depleted. They are protected under various wildlife acts and UK law states that it is an offence to kill, injure or capture a badger, or to interfere with its sett.It is estimated that 50,000 badgers meet their deaths in Britain through road traffic accidents every year. Badgers are hunted legally and illegally in many of the countries they inhabit.
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Protection of the Badger Act 1992
www.savethebadgers.co.ukShoddy Science
In some areas badgers have been culled, blamed (on shoddy and inconclusive evidence) for the spread of bovine TB. 10,000 badgers were culled. These animal can be relocated, not easy but possible just expensive. I cannot believe in this day an age that a government can believe it's acceptable to cull our badgers just like fox hunting this is totally unacceptable.Building and Badgers
An occupied badger sett may be found on the proposed site for a road or housing. To avoid later problems, developers should carry out surveys with the local badger group, wildlife trust, or ecological consultant before seeking outline planning permission.
Providing tunnels under roads, artificial setts, roadside reflectors, badger gates and fencing can help reduce the impact on the local badger population when areas are developed.