A Few Words On A Sunday

 

We have so far had 87 dead badgers reported in the area we cover. Although this seems high it is very likely not as high as it should be as people tend to ignore dead animals on the road and their lives are far too 'busy' on social media to actually type a quick message.

We also have people who have no idea whether they have seen a dead cat, fox or badger (in one case it was a muntjac deer!). In some cases people have no idea what the road was called where they spotted a "dead animal" and they will not be going back that way for another week.

If we sent people out to every one of these, vague as they are, the other problem is that a 30 minutes trip might revbeal nothing as the Street Clean teams were informed so they pick up the animal in question. Again, back in 2019 Bristol City (Labour) Council promised to have any dead foxes or badgers their teams collected reported to me. It is a long story that I do not want to go into again but the only official who cooperated was moved on.

We get absolutrely no cooperation or information from Bristol City Council likely out of fear it might spoil their false "Green City fighting enviromental issues" claim.

We can use statistical analysis to estimate a likely total deaths figure but I will hold off on that until December.

Based on the information received I can say that mange is not -or does not appear to be- a problem with badgers in and around Bristol. Bare or bald patches have all had mundane causes and as badgers tend to avoid mange outbreaks due to their own hygiene practices it should not be a cause for concern in the near future.

A question I have been asked a numkber of times is what happened to the two badger cubs Secret World took from Ashton Court. We hyave no idea since SW never consulted us about setts at the site and simply removed the cubs with no idea where to release them. SW considers itself above cooperating with Bristol Badger Group (in fact was very insulting and rude toward me personally at one point) or Bristol rescuers. It "canbnot come to Bristol" but then removes foxes and badgers knowing full well these are under long term study.

Population estimate for urban badgers is not great but certainly not "as many badgers as thereare foxes!" We always urge people to privately message or email locations of badgers and if they know how long they have been in an area; this is to try to protect setts from developers and other unsavoury characters. I can be messaged via FB Messenger 

Please remember:no matter what part of the country you are in if you see anyone you do not recognise near a badger sett dial 111 as better safe than sorry.