Is The UK Badger Cull Over?

 Some hope that the unscientific badger cull is over in the UK.  However, no one is officially confirming this and I was told "options are kept open"so that the government can be "more flexible in future".

The Wandering Badger Cub and the "We Don't Need To Tell You" attitude

 Over the decades I have seen adult and juvenile badgers out in the day. In places they feel safe or just cubs wandering around.  Seeing them out a lot and wandering about is not normal.

Yesterday a cub was filmed running along a wooded path. It looked healthy but still needed to be checked. I have asked on the local group who posted the clip and the image below for details. Still nothing. Someone who used to check badgers there said that the last time she checked all badgers were gone so either badgers have expanded from a nearby area or these were missed (which seems unlikely). 

I am told one young badger was taken by Secret World but they simply swoop in, grab and never let Bristol Badger Group know. We just find a badger missing and spend days trying to find out what happened. 

BBG has only been around 35 years so and Secret World KNOW how to contact me but never bother.,

I do not care who rescues a badger in need of help BUT it is unacceptable that the local badger group is never informed. This shows why wildlife conservation and care in the UK is a losing battle.

How Many Badgers have Died Within BBG Area So Far This Year?

 

DEAD BADGER 46 RECORDED: Wednesday 29 04 2026 (reported this date) Another dead badger, A370 towards Bristol, just before new bypass

It needs to be emphasised that we are referring to 46 REPORTED dead badgers. Most go unreported and the total deaths, if we go by statistical breakdowns, is likely twice that. For instance:

"If 46 badgers are reported dead, the estimated total number of actual deaths could be between 552 and 736.

"Research on wildlife road casualties suggests that the actual death rate can be 12 to 16 times higher than the number of reported or observed corpses. This discrepancy occurs because many carcasses are quickly removed by scavengers, obscured by vegetation, or never officially reported by the public."

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48886673

Personally I think the estimated number is far, far too high since badger numbers have decline by (cull only) 300,000 and I would estimate based on experience a total of 100+/- for 2026 so far

Needs to be emphasised that the fox and badger population numbers given in the BBC report are likely from pro hunt sources as always seems to be the case. If 300,000 badgers have been killed by the cull and thousands on the road each year then we would quite literally be tripping over badgers. Badgers, foxes and hedgehogs are in a very steep decline and all three species should be far more protected -and killing foxes for 'sport' should be illegal.

I Was TOLD. People Can Be So Rude

 

I was told -TOLD mind you- that what I needed to do was open up membership, charge a fee and build the group up.

For what?

Firstly, if you have members and charge a fee people SHOULD expect something in return. A newsletter is a waste of time and all the news from the area is posted here or on the blog.

I have mapped out badger areas and we roughly know badger territory. One thing I learnt from field work is that one or two people surveying a site attract some negative attention and there are too many anti badger people out there already.

We maintain a low profile while noting casualties and deaths and preventing construction on traditional badger sites. When I have requested help in surveying an area in the past qualified volunteers have stepped forward.

This work is NOT about building up ego or raising money -wildlife conservation is NOT and should NEVER be about creating a small business.

We will look after and try to conserve badgers in N Somerset, South Gloucestershire, BANES and the City and County of Bristol. THAT is the important thing.

Latest Badger Death

 A lady reported: Valley Rd Portishead. Deceased badger in middle of road. I advised contacting North Somerset Council (the messing about with county borders means that Portishead has a BS post code number -BS20 but still counts a BBG territory).

She later reported:

"Just to update. I returned and they'd been moved out of Rd. Sadly I couldn't see if it was a lactating female or not which was my concern. Its intestines were all exposed and birds were feeding on it"

Pretty fast work from the council.

This really is a very bad country when it comes to caring about wildlife.

 

In any decent society one would expect that a vehicle driver hitting any animal, be it wildlife or domestic pet, would stop and check whether it was dead or alive. This is such a RARE occurrence that I can only think of one such act in five years.

Cities and towns are full of CCTV traffic cameras so it would be nice to see striking and not reporting a dead or injured animal become a criminal offence.

Over 40 badgers, 105 foxes and 2 otters in Bristol struck and left as dead since 1st January. Oh..one person (a pedestrian) reported a fox hit hours after he saw it.

Urban badgers in the City and County of Bristol, Bath and NE Somerset and South Gloucestershire which this group covers are not rare. People reporting dead ones is as the view seems to be "It's dead. Nothing to do with me" and yet people are able to communicate such finds easily in 2026.

This really is a very bad country when it comes to caring about wildlife.

Working With Avon Wildlife Trust?

 AWT I am indifferent to. They had Ashton Vale designated a Wildlife Deprivation Zone when I moved here in 1994. In my first night I observed low flying barn owls, hedgehogs, two foxes walking up the road, bats etc. Next day I saw a woodpecker, collared doves, wood pigeons, finches, great and Blue Tits and more.

After a month of wildlife surveying I sent a report to AWT who told me that I needed to join before any of my data could be looked at.

After B&M opened in Winterstoke Road I was accosted by a young fella looking to get people to join AWT and he very knowledgably informed me "Did you know this was a wildlife deprivation zone?" I looked out of the doorway and said to him

"What do you see outside?" Puzzled he shrugged. I pointed to the lamp post fitted rat traps , I pointed to the two wood pigeons, a large number of crows, three types of sea gull I then offered to show him the hedgehog droppings I had passed on the grass outside the strore.

He turned and asked the next person through the doors whether they had considered joining AWT to "help bring wildlife to the area".

I have never had any response to copies of the badger and fox deaths registers I sent nor the fox death study results.

When I asked AWT for some kind of support in asking Bristol City Council to look into ways to cut down wildlife deaths I was told they couldn't do that. Asking whether they could pass on any fox or badger death reports they received (three times) -nope.

I started the Fox Study Project in 1976 and AWT has never shown any interest-my work is better known internationally than in my own City. My badger work is also know outside the UK as is my work on wild cats and feral cats. None of which has ever interested AWT and certainly never BRERC,

We need people out there working to protect and study wildlife and the environment and far less time fund raising. I may come across as a miserable sod but when we live in one of the worst countries for wildlife I think I am allowed to be.