Three Teenage School Boys Did More Than Wildlife Organisations

 Sarah Mills received a call from Somerset Badger Watch over an injured badger near Bath (always considered Bristol territory so she let me know).

Somerset Badger Watch had no one who could help or handle the situation. HOWEVER, if she wanted then the badger could be taken to Secret World to be put down.

Three teenage school boys had come across the badger and put their coats over it and bags around it. They called the RSPCA -nothing. Secret World -they could not come out and the boys tried other numbers just to get help for the badger.

When Sarah arrived she took the badger to vets in Bath who were not willing to deal with the badger until this afternoon -it was in shock, had its spine poking out and needed to be put down asap not wait half a day. After a couple tries the badger was brought to Bristol where the vet told Sarah "It's a protected species -we have a duty of care" and the sow badger was put to sleep.

It had empty milk sack so had young but likely those are old enough to forage and fend for themselves.

The disgrace here is that wildlife groups were not willing to do eff all about an injured protected animal and that Bath vets (probably with farming clients) were not interested in helping via the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Duty of Care ethic, It was up to a Bristol vet to act immediately and relieve suffering.

Three teenage school boys did far more than any wildlife body. That says a lot.

(c)2026 Sarah Mills

(c)2026 Sarah Mills

(c)2026 Sarah Mills

(c)2026 Sarah Mills

To the three school boys -THANK YOU

Gardens To Live In. Roads To Die On

 

Charlton road, Keynsham

It is almost unbelievable that so many animals and particularly badgers, are killed by cares but no one reports hitting them. They used to at one point but now whether fox, otter, deer or badger the mantra seems to be "Wildlife shouldn't be on the road!" and then drive on .

Here are today's losses (that we know of):

053            Thursday 14 05 2026 Dead badger Thicket Road, Fishponds

054            Thursday 14 05 2026  Dead badger Charlton Rd Keynsham

Badger Road Deaths Suspicious?

 Someone asked whether it was suspicious that so many badgers die in one spot?  Not really because roads were built across wildlife trails used for hundreds if not thousands of years. Wildlife was given no consideration because...well, it meant nothing but the money from contracts to build roads meant a lot.  

Far more foxes die (or rather are reported as being dead) on specific stretches of road that again were built on traditional game routes. In the BBG area we know these stretches. We have alerted the former Labour and now Green (not) City Council. Their response is that while wildlife over and underpasses might well save foxes, otters, badgers and numerous deer from death... "Well, it's the money".   

Someone recently placed a home made sign for drivers at one spot to alert them to badgers crossing. Initially I asked the council whether it had placed the  sign there?  The response was a threat about legal action against me for the sign!!  No idea if it is still there but I did tell the council that if it took legal action against me then I would counter sue and spend the money on more signs at wildlife danger spots. Nothing back.

We live in a country where ego, wealth and disregard for any wildlife is higher than anywhere else in Western Europe. I hope badgers survive but I still believe that in the 2030s we will hit a crisis point where they are extinct or so rare they are listed as Highly Endangered.

Does This Ever Get Depressing?

 

I wrote too soon earlier:

051            Monday 11 05 2026   Dead juvenile badger. off the A37 at Chelwood bridge, nearStantonWick BS39 4NH

 

052            Monday 11 05 2026 before the turnoff for Chew Magna. BS40 8SH

Number 50 Just Recorded

 Depressingly we have just hit 50 KNOWN badger deaths for 2026:

049            Monday 11 05 2026 looks to be a cub, again headed north just past Deanery road roundabout.

 

050            Monday 11 05 2026 remains of an adult near to the turning for Emerson's Green retail centre

No one stopped to check or reported hitting either badger. Nothing new there.

The BADGER is the important species here and not the human.

 BBG covers the area that used to be Bristol before all the politically pointless boundary changes. Part of Bath and NE Somerset, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and of course the City and County of Bristol.   

Whereas BBG RESPECTS the boundaries and does not operate in the areas covered by other groups we do know one particular badger group comes into Bristol and helps trap, remove and treat (or badgers do not return) badgers we are monitoring. 

We are told nothing and tend to get negative feedback against us because people assume we are cooperating or carrying out the tasks. Whereas in the past we forwarded reports of dead badgers in that group's area we no longer do so as they refuse to forward information they have on badgers reported dead in BBG area.

There are too many people setting up badger/wildlife groups who do so as a hobby or for egotistical reasons. I hear from people around England who have failed to get responses from badger groups or the local group cannot answer a simple question on badgers or badger health.

The BADGER is the important species here and not the human.

Perfect Badger Territory -Sadly, Car Drivers Are The Problem

 

After recorded deaths on a road I wondered how there could still be badgers in the area  sustaining a population. I asked my network. My original theory that there must be two badger clans along a stretch of the A370 seems correct.

Based on information I now have there are definitely two different clan setts in the area. Which does not make the regular loss of badgers on what would have been an ancient wildlife track any less sad.