Reporting Sick and Injured or Dead Badgers and Rescuing

 There was an active badger group in Bristol run by Mike Collins but I believe after his sudden death it just became defunct.  At least after a month of trying to locate the group (linked on a Bristol RSPCA page -still is) Avon Wildlife Trust, RSPCA and anyone else I contacted had no idea where the group was. So, in 1994 I set up the Bristol Badger Group.

The fact that very few people were interested in badgers made me realise why the old group had gone.   Yet, since 1994 any injured or dead badgers got reported to Somerset Badger Watch or Badger Watch UK (the former are helpful but the latter has been less so). It means that we get only a partial picture of badger deaths in the City and County.  Monitoring badger deaths is important especially when it comes to any sow being killed on the roads during cub season; cubs need to be located as soon as possible.   

Here is something that people do not understand:a sow badger is obviously lactating when she died. You search and find the badger sett and it is obvious that there are cubs within. Most people think "Get the cubs out and to a rescue so they can be cared for" but, no. As DEFRA and Natural England will tell you with all the "following orders" attitude of true jobs worths, you cannot rescue the cubs from the sett. That is called interfering with the protected sett of a protected species.  If the cubs come out they can be rescued. If they stay in the sett and starve to death -tough.

How insane is that? DO NOT interfere with the sett and rescue cubs because they and the sett are protected and yet 300,000 badgers ('protecte4d species') have been killed over bad science that has achieved nothing but pushed the species toward extinction. 

Rescuers use different tricks including putting the dead sow near the sett to attract the cubs and make them leave so they can be rescued or, more often, place food near the sett. Wildlife rescue and treatment in the UK is basic at times.

We do not go out checking setts in urban areas for a very good reason and that is 1) we have locals who keep the badgers and setts under observation (which has helped stop three developers in the last year destroying setts) and they report on any health issues. And, 2) poking around and area attracts unwanted attention -as I found out in my previous wildlife work.  Locals keep their setts secret and although I have mapped where many are I do not visit. Allow the badgers to continue without interference and get on with their lives -it is how they have survived in urban areas into the 21st century and although cars take their toll the badgers continue.

In a safe area -as far as badgers are concerned- you will see them in the early dawn hours as well as at dusk and I have had a number of people contact me over concerns that "badgers are out in daylight".  Badgers move around woodland and forests during the day so in a clan area why not?

I should explain that whereas a family group of foxes is known as a "leash" a family group of badgers are called a "clan" and even a "tribe" but clan is more commonly used.

We had a situation in a known clan area over the last weekend when someone reported a badger wandering around gardens. I was only told later in the day.  Apparently, this was posted over the various Face Book pages and someone eventually turned up and carted the badger off in, of all things, a cat carrier.  We have no idea whether the fox was injured or sick and we have no idea who the person was who collected it or where the "safer place" was that it was being taken. Why?  Because no one asked "Who are you?" or "Where are you taking the badger?"  

An injured badger could have been dealt with by wildlife rescuer Sarah Mills who is well known in Bristol but she was not contacted. I was not contacted. RSPCA apparently not contacted nor were Bristol's Animal Rescue Centre (ARC deals mainly with cats and dogs).  We do know that Face Book groups are monitored by anti fox and anti badger people so that is a major concern.

The other concern is that the badger may have been injured or ill and was taken and dumped "some place safer" only to die slowly. The public should not interfere with wildlife but contact those who are able to deal with animals.

Four days on we still have no idea what happened to that badger. The fact that it was taken in a cat carrier indicates something was wrong with it -a cat carrier would be shredded very quickly by a healthy badger.  Vets do not report wildlife they treat (put to sleep) so it is possible this badger faced that fate.  We just do not know.

Where ever you live if you have concerns about a badger contact your local badger group and do not publicise it across the internet.

North Wales Badgers

  WORST YEAR SINCE OUR RECORDS BEGAN

2024 has already become the worst year on record for RTA reports, surpassing our prior worst year in 2022 however we still have 3 months to go!

Although horrible news, 52% have been suitable for collection and testing by the Welsh Badger Found Dead programme, this means they will be tested for bTB and support the case to stop killing badgers in England and also for signs of illegal interference, be that badger baiting (still rife in the UK) or trap-related injuries.

Please continue to report Badger RTAs in North Wales and thank you to everyone who has already reported sightings.

Can We Win When 'Wildlife' Groups Encourage Animal Endangerment? The Story of Badger Watch UK

  Boris the Badger and Friends is a Face Book page that promotes the habituation and hand feeding of badgers in close proximity to the actual badger sett. On the 2nd April 2024 the man posted a video of him sitting amongst a group of 6-7 badgers and hand feeding.

I had previously (twice) been very polite and asked him to stop as he was habituating badgers to humans and the hand feeding is something that really ought to be made illegal.

Sitting near a sett and hand feeding badgers -"only one ever comes close" (c)2024 Boris the Badger

His constant response is that the "badger" only came out shyly to him. This was a lie because all of the badgers in the video he talks about how several were climbing over him. Previous videos showed the same thing.  I decided that a much firmer approach to the problem was needed and pointed out that his activities were putting the badgers safety at risk. I also pointed out that using his ISP it was possible to track down his street and from there work out where badgers might be.  I pointed out that, legally, he was interfering with a badger sett and that could involve his being prosecuted. I ended by asking him to PLEASE stop what he was doing.

Then I received this notification along with its rather immature added note. 

 I sent a copy of this notification to all three admins but one blocks any messages so great admin there! There seemed to be no sense in this since I was listed as a "top contributor" on Badger Watch UK -in fact I was the only person actively helping people with badger issues. I assumed there must be an error somewhere.Here is what I sent the only two admins who were contactable:

"I am writing to you as an Admin on Badger Watch UK. It seems that I am accused of "threatening a member" I will make it clear that I did not threaten to do anything other than to report the danger he was putting wildlife -badgers- in and breaking the law at the same time. We need to protect badgers and stop them from being habituated to humans. Sitting on the ground near a badger sett and feeding the badgers in the way he has videoed is also ethically wrong. I deal with badgers killed because they do not see humans as a threat and the member in question may well be a "star" but he is not helping badgers and I am shocked that admins feel pointing this out is threatening. Humans, whoever they are, cannot be encouraged to do this when we urge people to report people around protected badger setts. "

Krister Ardem and admin: "Telling someone you've traced their address via their ISP is definitely threatening"

So I replied and suspect I am going to be kicked off because the attitude was very odd:

"No it was pointing out that it is not hard to use that to track what street he is on and use that to pinpoint where likely locations of badgers are. That is alerting him to how easy the wrong people can find badgers if they want to. I DID NOT state I had tracked his address just that the ISP leads to info that shows his street. That is not a legal definition of a threat but safety warning. The issue here is that this is irresponsible behaviour not good for the badgers. Surely that can be seen? I have alerted Face Book and sent copies of my posts and the video clip I saved and explained that I have been banned for 24 hours because I take an accusation of threatening someone seriously as does FB who pick up these things. If you would sooner have anti wildlife behaviour videos to trying to explain to people how to keep badgers safe then the fight to save badgers is lost."

Krister Ardem "You said you'd traced his street in less than 30 minutes. He's been working with badgers for more than 40 years so why be so attacking and not discuss amicably? Now you're trying to threaten BWUK admins for muting you as a punishment, saying you've disagreed with what is clearly intimidating behaviour. I'm sure Facebook will have a good laugh at your complaint. Before throwing it right into the bin where it belongs."

It was as though I had somehow upset people who are supposed to care for badgers by pointing out that someone was doing something that could harm badgers. I was still trying to help smooth things over though:

"If you go back I have been very polite to him and explained why he should not be doing this. I have tried privately as well and I have worked in wildlife since 1977 so well before his work -whatever that is as I can find no name or published papers. the whole reason I stopped checking on badger setts is because someone tracked me down in a similar way.

"I have actually had a response from FB (note: I received a notification from them about my ban which was why I contacted them) and they were not laughing and I have no idea why you are saying I am threatening BWUK admins?? I get a feeling you just want me to leave the group because this is getting ridiculous with the word threat being thrown everywhere. If ALL the admins agree that a field naturalist with decades of experience is not wanted but social media likes are then ALL admins should agreed to remove me."

In all honesty it was quite simple. I had spoken out against one of their "stars" who got lots of "Likes" for his videos and that, to the admins, was unacceptable and whatever I wrote I was "threatening" anyone and everyone. What I was not expecting was the very immature response to my last message:

So I responded: "That is very immature as a response and you seem to be baiting me for some reason but I stand by what I wrote and the fact that we have to protect badgers"

Sadly, Ardem really was as immature as his responses suggested as he sent this meme next:

I was still trying to be polite but Ardem then blocked me. As did the only other admin on FB.  Basically, they knew they were in t5he wrong and supporting an habituator for social media likes and had no way of responding so were turning every and any word into a "threat"   In fact, it seems that Ardem was not aware of the social media "You Lose the argument" rule. That last meme was it!   

So I waited to see what happened but I had been immediately removed from the group. Boris the Badger and Friends blocked me on all social media -as well as someone else who tried to explain why he should not feed the badgers the way he was.

"only one badger comes near me"  (c)2024 Boris the Badger

And to emphasise the point: 

 This is wrong on so many counts but as with many social media groups  covering foxes and other wild animals this is encouraged and "Boris" even gets a much cherished "Rising star"  at the top of his FB page. Wrong is wrong and these people know it but want the social media likes and ****  the wildlife.

Unfortunately for Badger Watch UK and Boris the Badger and Friends you post publicly then those photographs are available on any search engine (four to be exact as I tried them all to make sure)

Treating Badgers With Mange

 

Hello Terry,

 

Thank you for your email. 

Badgers certainly do get mange, its not as common as in foxes but we do see it.  

Historically we have treated with Ivermectin for badgers admitted to the hospital we inject them with ivermectin 2 doses 7 days apart,  or for treating on site we mixed in with some honey but there must be certainty that the badger can be target fed and also if it is mange then most likely the whole sett will have it so treatment of all the badgers correctly and separately will be impossible. 

You can use Bravecto or credelio tablets both treat mange again must be dosed correctly in food. 

In foxes we have given when they are lactating but never badgers so we would not know if this is safe to do so. 

 

Kind regards

Kate

 

South Essex Wildlife Hospital

01375 893893

https://southessexwildlife.org/

PLEASE ALWAYS CHECK WITH YOUR LOCAL WILDLIFE CENTRE OR RESCUE

Badgers And Sarcoptic Mange

 

Can you get a badger with mange?  "No" is the usual response and most state the same as the Scottish Badgers group:

 https://www.scottishbadgers.org.uk/information-hub/faqs/#:~:text=Badgers%20have%20fleas%20and%20lice,badgers%20to%20suffer%20from%20mange.

"Badgers have fleas and lice that have co-evolved alongside badgers, so cannot survive off of a badger. They may also carry ticks, which are known to spread Lyme's Disease. In some areas with a high density, of badgers, mange could be transmitted, however it's not very common for badgers to suffer from mange."

And that is a line still put out today but I have been seeing a few cases of badgers with mange and that mainly because I monitor what goes on regionally and nationally. The big problem in dealing with wildlife health is getting the information. In the UK it has proven impossible to get research papers related to foxes and badgers as you must belong to a university, college or recognised organisation. Doesn't matter if you are a mammalogist who has spent 50 years running a study on foxes or 40 years on wild cats; you are not getting into that magic club!

A point is the following from a paper published in 2010 and, of course, access is blocked.

Sarcoptic mange in badgers in the UK by Collins, R; Wessels, M E; Wood, R; Couper, D; Swift, A in . The Veterinary Record; London Vol. 167, Iss. 17,  (Oct 23, 2010):668. DOI:10.1136/vr.c5672

“WE would like to report the identification of sarcoptic mange in badgers (Meles meles ) from south-west England.

“An adolescent female badger was received for postmortem examination, following the deaths of four other badgers in the same locality over a two-week period. All the affected badgers were suspected to be from the same sett. The first four animals to die were described as thin, with areas of hair loss and abnormal-looking skin, although this was not confirmed by veterinary or laboratory examination.

“The badger received was in poor condition, weighing 4.2 kg. There was severe thickening of the skin, showing varying degrees of alopecia, crusting and scaling over 90 per cent of the body surface, particularly affecting the flanks, ears and hindlegs ( Fig 1 ). Areas of suppuration were noted between the thickened folds of skin. A superficial lymphadenopathy was present. Examination of a skin scraping revealed the presence of numerous mites with the morphology of Sarcoptes scabiei .”

As I write even though this paper is from 2010 as a naturalist I cannot get access to it. The “magic club” does not allow access to such papers even if you are a “citizen scientist” -yet I can get recent technical papers from the United States and Europe. This is why education on wildlife as well as research is hindered because the “great unwashed” are not allowed to view. To those who do allow free access to research papers Thank you.

But if mange was reported in 2010 why is it everyone is still insisting mange in badgers is “rarely seen”? Ahem: “not allowed to know” and that makes it hard for wildlife rescuers. I know of a badger treated for mange in the Peak District (Northern England) and other parts of England so it is not that rare and there may be many factors as to why we have seen badger mange since the 2000s.

Above (c)2024 Kate Hennessy

An article in New scientist is of particular interest and well worth a read.

Humans spread more viruses to other animals than they give to us

Michael Le Page

"Animals such as rats are often regarded as disease carriers. But when it comes to the spreading of illnesses, it turns out other animals have more reason to fear us than we them.

"An analysis of viral genomes has found that when viruses move between humans and other animals, in 64 per cent of cases it is humans infecting other animals – rather than the reverse.

“We give more viruses to animals than they give to us,” says Cedric Tan at University College London. For instance, after the SARS-CoV-2 virus jumped from bats to humans, possibly via another species, humans passed it on to many other species.

"Tan and his colleagues have been using a global database of sequenced viruses to study how they jump between species. There are nearly 12 million sequences in the database, but many are incomplete or lack data on when they were collected and from what host species.

"So the researchers narrowed down the 12 million to roughly 60,000 high quality sequences with full accompanying data. They then created “family trees” for related viruses.

"Altogether, they identified nearly 13,000 viral lineages and 3000 jumps between species. Of the 599 jumps involving humans, most were from humans to other animals rather than vice versa.

"The team wasn’t expecting this, but in retrospect it makes sense, says Tan. “Our population size is huge. And our global distribution is basically everywhere.”

"In other words, a virus spreading among humans will have numerous opportunities to jump to many other species all around the world, whereas a virus circulating in a non-human species that is limited to one region will have far fewer opportunities."

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2423977-humans-spread-more-viruses-to-other-animals-than-they-give-to-us/?utm_source=nsday&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nsday_260324&utm_term=Newsletter%20NSDAY_Daily

Above two (c)2024 Owen Rogers

Someone wrote: "Hmm , makes me wonder about mange in foxhounds … widespread dog excrement in the countryside, carrying TB etc … kept in kennels, multi-dog situations and ability to spread disease extensively throughout woodland and farmland …. putting heads into dens etc. There are 220 registered fox hound packs, god knows how many beagles … UK cattle population in filthy living conditions and across fields , cow muck spread on everything…. Run off into rivers …."

And, of course, all of that can be checked by people on the internet and remember that hunts do not notify authorities if any of their hounds or horse contract bTB -they just get hauled out into a yard and inhumanely shot (and there is video footage of that -some of it making the national news). The countryside is far from pristine as it used to be in the period up to the 1990s.

Above (c)2024 GG

Dog walkers and humans in general are spreading things around the countryside and about 15 years ago I wrote how some park wardens were complaining about the amount of vegetation being killed off by dogs urinating all over an area and the problem of dog faeces was another problem considering what they contain and that spreads out.

Above (c)2024 Louise Powell-Hills

You may well give your dog wormer treatment as well as something for ticks and fleas but they can still carry them until they drop off and attached to another animal.  It may well be what is happening with badgers and mange; I have reference books on wildlife going back to the late 18th century onward and in not one is mange mentioned in badgers. They are described as meticulously clean and the only time mange is mentioned is with imported foxes (something else to thank hunts for). We do know hedgehogs can get mange and, again, these are mainly ones in urban areas where there are lots of pet dogs and cats.

The other factor could well be population stress leading to greater susceptibility. The current government plan is to exterminate entire badger populations in England based on the inept and faulty (I do not like to use the word but) 'science'.  Over 250,000 badgers have so far been killed and that includes badgers known (and tested) to be TB free. There are illegal badger killings but authorities tend to turn a blind eye to that unless publicly embarrassed. And then we have an estimated 100,000 badgers a year killed on roads. That puts breeding populations under stress and we know that a population of animals under stress suffer health issues. 

We can treat badgers just as hedgehogs with mange are treated and I am waiting for a wildlife hospital to give me specifics that I can post here. I was told by one wildlife rescue:

"Any animal that needs medical treatment however will need to be brought into a rehabilitation centre or trapped in a crush for medical intervention I'd assume due to needing a veterinary surgeon to prescribe the medication needed. The laws on treating wildlife has been altered in the last year or two."

Yes, mainly "if it's wildlife kill it" (that is a subject for another post). A few wildlife rescues are now treating animals such as foxes in situ because treatment tends to work better when foxes are not trapped (stressed) and then held in a cage at a rescue (stress). How do we know treating foxes with mange works better in situ? Because it is being done in Bristol and other parts of the country. I have seen a fox that previously the local wildlife people would have put down even though it looked alert, was eating and its body condition was fine but no fur; treated on site it is now looking even better and is growing back fluffy fur. And there are other "put to sleep" condition foxes given meds and treated on site that have recovered.

When it comes to a badger with mange then it needs to be treated on site. It can be awkward but you should not expect wildlife work to be easy. Lactating sows you need to treat carefully and I hope that the wildlife hospital can advise even though I note people have posted on how they are treating mange in badgers we need professional advice. The same applies to hedgehogs of course.

I have not been able to contact some of those whose photos/screenshots I have used but would like to say THANK YOU as these are good photographic records of badgers in various states of mange.

UK Wildlife: A Somewhat Sunday Rant or Sermon

 

 If there is one thing I have learnt it is that people with a love of foxes are either the "get hands dirty" types who run rescues and try to help foxes (let's call them Type 1's) or the "I learnt everything from You Tube" and these can often cause more grief with bad feeding of foxes and habituation and if they set up a kitchen sink 'rescue' foxes are more at risk of harm than getting real help (these we'll call Type 2's).

The same applies to people who love badgers. There are the type 1's who are hindered by certain stupid regulations. For one; if a sow badger is dead next to a sett and there are starving pups in the sett they must be left there. You know the mother is dead and that means a slow death for the cubs but you must not under punishment of huge fines or prison sentence get the cubs out of the sett to save them. However much they squeal you have to wait for two things: the cubs to die or for them to leave the sett. Yes, once they leave the sett you can help them. Now here is where we have to remember that 300,000+ badgers, an alleged protected species, can be legally killed based on bad science and political corruption to a point where the population is on a speedy descent to extinction but you try to save cubs whose mother has been killed (usually by a car) and you are a criminal.

I was asked what I would do in that situation? I would break the law.

We can help fox cubs that are dying at an alarming rate while their parents are killed by 'sports shooters', farmers, killed by cars etc, etc., etc.. Even the British Trust for Ornithology after its mammal survey suggested now was the time to red list foxes (just as we did hedgehogs) because the population is on a very steep decline and like the badgers, that we must not, help are heading for extinction by the 2030s.

Humans are the greatest threat to the environment and wildlife and even with warning after warning about current species from mammals to birds heading for "The Big E" no one is listening. Back in the late 1700s and into the early 1800s 'sportsmen' and 'sportsmen-naturalists' were all reporting on the decline of the native British fox types and even stating that extinction seemed inevitable so what did they do? They carried on killing the foxes for the 'fun' of their 'sport' until...Old foxes gone. Not to worry as they did what they had done since at least the early 1700s and that was to import more so that the 'sport' might continue.

People are still badger baiting as well as shooting them on the quiet (often through the local "badger man") but snares and poison are still a staple of "getting rid of them" for no reason other than not liking wild animals on "my land".  This is often organised and a crime but on the whole the police shrug and say "no proof" so perhaps they ought to do some policing?

Foxes are shot with no controls in place and although a land owner is supposedly only allowed to "deal with" a fox that threatens live stock foxes have proven to be no threat to sheep or lambs and even the 'great sportsmen' of the past who went out and studied this rejected the claim and their large reward for anyone bringing in evidence to prove this was not claimed by the early 1900s. 

A fox walking along near a village or housing estate hunting rats or rabbits is not a threat under any description. In fact it is controlling the rodent population and reducing the need for all poisoning rodenticides. Even when it is cub season these people will kill a fox whether vixen lactating or not. It's their 'fun' and so what if foxes become extinct they can move on to other wildlife or even 'fun' shooting the odd wandering pet cat (which happens more frequently than you might want to think).

A wildlife looks very green and pleasant and so developers obviously want to build on that and local authorities (such as in Bristol) will twist and turn to try top push through developments and a blind eye is often turned towards fox dens and badger setts ("Oh, we had no ideas they were there"), In cities and towns the green spaces are vitally important not just for wildlife but also people -"little oases away from the concrete".

I was once offered an office at a college in the UK for my ongoing work on exotic species in the UK that attracted a lot of press and media attention. Then it was discovered that I was not a university graduate so "perhaps not a good idea" 😂

With foxes and diseases a great deal is being found out through the Bristol Fox Deaths Project and when any research on UK wildlife is published by researchers then the chances of getting a copy of the paper is never available to people who are not part of the "club" -I have a big folder full of papers on fox health, possible diseases, etc., and they are all from EU or American research which is distributed free online as part of "free to educate" policies which the UK sadly does not bother with.  Anything our project discovers will be publicly as well as professionally available.

The Type 1 fox people need to be as informed as they can be because wildlife groups in general are not keen on foxes or badgers unless it is a photo opp or way to promote themselves. Large mammals such as foxes and badgers and even deer are seen as the "nasty types" that get in the way of the "pretty" butterflies, moths, birds and wild flowers. Type 1's in both fox and badger work often get threats, abuse and a whole lot more just because they are helping species no one cares about -300,000 badgers killed and heading for extinction and the "nation of animal lovers" is not up in arms (but a "lonely looking sheep" gets thousands of demands for it to be rescued?).

The UK is The Blood Red Island for a very obvious reason. Our wildlife protection laws and prosecutions against those breaking the 'laws' are a mess.  When it comes to a land owner whether some rich business man or royal there should be no protection from prosecution over wildlife crimes. 

We need a genuine wildlife crimes force that does not consist of local men who give a nod and wink to locals involved in crimes. A wildlife crimes force that is given full authorisation to enter private land when a wildlife crime is reported and suspected and whoever is involved should be prosecuted under new laws. Will this ever happen? Doubtful since most politicians tend to look at what is good for themselves rather than the environment and wildlife.

We are watching species vanishing and quite literally shrugging it off or just ignoring it as someone else's problem.