We went shopping today. On the way we saw something in the road all curled up. We stopped got out and went to look. Some swine had killed a badger. :o :'(
No one had ran over it since it was hit and it couldn't have happened so long ago. :'(
It must have died in terrable pain. :'(
We moved the body to the side of the road and carried on. I was very angry as we know some of the boy racers do this on purpose. >:(
Rant over sorry :-[
There is a lot of road deaths with badgers Joji. In fact there is a national count of Badger deaths on the road. I know where to report it in my area. Not nice to see, the poor thing must have been hungry coming out mid winter. Aw dear....
Isn't the UK thinking of culling Badger's?
:'(
Joji, I'm sure I saw on the national federation of badger groups (aka badger trust) website that they want people to report sightings of badgers (alive or dead) to their local badger group. You should be able to find them if you go to http://www.nfbg.org.uk/ & click on find your local badger group.
There is also information about the proposed badger cull and a petition to sign if you oppose it.
Thankyou very much Juliet :)
It is sad to see any road kill such beautiful animals.
But please be aware some do carry the TB virus this is back and fro to cattle and we can catch it as well.
So if a badger is injured please dont go near just in case the old stories of a frightened badger will bite and not let go.
Do not put your self at risk of getting TB. Just find a telephone number to call for help stay in your car near the animal with your hasard lights on to warn other drivers.
http://www.badger.org.uk/tb/index.html
They are talking of culling and letting the farmers do it, this way the goverment dont get there hands dirty, by gassing
Thanks for the warning Teresa. :)
I know how to handle badgers and foxes that are injured. We always have disposable gloves in our van for just this sort of thing. We also have 2 blankets and a cage in case we see injured wild life and are able to get them to the vets. :)
In the 4 years we have been here we have taken 3 deer, 2 foxes, 3 hares & 2 badgers to the vets. All we successfully released again into the wild. ;D
Quote from: teresa on January 17, 2006, 00:01:53
...So if a badger is injured please dont go near just in case the old stories of a frightened badger will bite and not let go...
A couple of nights ago I was watching a programme on TV about hazzards in gardens. One of the stories was about a man who heard knocking in his garage. When he opened the door, a badger flew at him and gripped the mans arm savagely tearing off quite a bit of flesh. I have found the story on the web at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/3027681.stm
Quite gripping!!
Quote from: teresa on January 17, 2006, 00:01:53
It is sad to see any road kill such beautiful animals.
But please be aware some do carry the TB virus this is back and fro to cattle and we can catch it as well.
If badgers transfer TB (and it isn't 100% proved that they are responsible) then they carry Bovine TB not the type that affects humans (tho looking at bird flu!)
We have lots around here and see @least 1 a week by the side of the road on the way to work.
Farmers aren't allowed to kill them but can move them on and have some pretty nasty ways of doing this including using dogs and filling their sets in with cattle manure.
Joji, you seem to have it covered and well equiped. Do you secure the badgers jaws first just out of interest.
Paulines7,
the old stories of a badger if it get a grip on any limb will break bones before letting go is well known and in farming aeras they have a great respect farmers keep clear.
Quote from: teresa on January 17, 2006, 11:46:59
Joji, you seem to have it covered and well equipped. Do you secure the badgers jaws first just out of interest.
Yes we have soft crepe bandages to keep the jaws shut without damage. We also have a loop restraint on a 6 foot metal bar ( home made but the same as the wild life people use. We also carry a full first aid kit just for our dogs but we do use it on the wild animals also. :)
Quote from: glow777 on January 17, 2006, 11:25:45but can move them on and have some pretty nasty ways of doing this including using dogs and filling their sets in with cattle manure.
Badgers can only be culled or moved on by DEFRA. There were three cases recently where farmers were prosecuted for filling sets with slurry.
It is not the case that these animals carry illnesses or wether they don't what annoys me is the fact that some people think it is funny and a game to just hit them with there vehicles and leave them to die in extreme pain if not killed out right. No wild animal should have to go through that I am sure. I would prefer that any wild life that needed controlling would be dealt with in a humane way. :'(
It is sad to see all the dead animals on the road. It is also sad to hear that people actually hit them on purpose. I once hit a squirrel and I felt terrible. It wasn't my fault though - squirrels have a tendency to pannick and end up running back into the road and under the wheels. To be honest I think most are accidents and usually the animal is beyond saving. I guess a lot of people are also hesitant to put an injured wild animal in their cars. When I was a kid my dad used to stop if he saw an injured animal and he would "put it out of its misery". He would also pick up dead pheasants and bring them home to eat (only ones freshly killed - pretty sure this is illegal - shush...don't tell anyone ;)!). One time he was bringing a huge pheasant home that he thought was dead - unfortunately it came round whilst he was driving home and started flapping around the car ;D! It was injured so he put it in the greenhouse hoping it would recover. Sad to say it didn't make it.
When we were driving down a country lane on holiday one year we were stopped by some distressed hikers - they had found a severely injured rabbit in the road & wanted to put it out of its misery (they were sure it was too badly hurt to recover) but didn't have the means - they asked if we would run over it so it would die more quickly - we did but we felt horrible, even though we knew it was better for it :'( . I can't imagine wanting to kill anything for fun.
And if anyone does have an accident, please stop if you can and make sure the animal is dead, not just lying there suffering.
Silly question probably, sorry, but supposing you did come across say, an injured badger, and you were away from home, who should you call for help? If you don't know a local vet where you are?
Pansy - for a badger you could try the Badger Trust; their no. is 020 7228 6444, & I expect they could put you in touch with a local group or someone who could help. Otherwise I'd try the local branch of the RSPCA or the local wildlife trust - they should be in the phone book for the area or you could try directory enquiries to get the number if you don't have access to a phone book.
And I've just remembered a much happier story about hitting animals on the road - this happened to a friend of mine - hope he won't mind if I paste the story from his Christmas letter (who said Christmas letters were boring ... ?!)
"My family and I were peacefully driving along the country roads ... when an inconsiderate pheasant stepped in front of the car, and got hit at 30mph. Thinking it must have run off, we continued and parked ... at which point we heard a scratching sound, and in disbelief, saw that the pheasant was trapped inside the grille of the car. An interesting call to the AA followed, and thankfully they came out even though it was 1st April. After opening the bonnet and taking the top of the grille off, the AA guy and I successfully transferred the bird to a large briefcase, after which the AA guy took it to a bird sanctuary, still alive and kicking - one of his strangest call outs ever!" ;D
Sorry I don't know much about bdagers except that they're beautiful and nocturnal and I've only ever seen a few. Why should we want to cull them? What do they do that we think it OK to forfeit their lives? Arrogant imperialistic sods that we are.
Juliet, thanks for the info, nice to be prepared, just in case. And that pheasant sure had a lucky escape!
As you say Joji, these collisions are often deliberate. People often deliberately drive at wild animals in the road just for the hell of it or in the hope of a free meal (it is illegal to take game from the roadside under any circumstances). People are so stupid they will often drive at deer in the road in the hope of some free venison. The result?............A written off car and in 2004, over 20 human fatalities. >:(