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Badgers now the subject of smear campaign

The poor badgers are getting bad press..... not only do the (supposed) road kill smell in Ireland.... but also...

BBC DEVON
Hungry badgers raiding bumblebee nests
Wednesday, 21 July 2010 10:38 UK 
Hungry badgers in Devon are targeting bumblebee nests, as the dry weather for much of this summer leaves them struggling for food. 

<Video report>

The problem is particularly notable in parts of east Devon.

The staple part of a badger's diet is the earthworm, but they have been hard to dig out in the bone dry earth.

Vegetable adviser Richard Moynan from Starcross said: "I am seriously concerned they are going to exterminate the bumblebees in this area."

Janine Jansen's film for BBC Spotlight includes an interview with Richard Moynan, and Jack Reedy from The Badger Trust.

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DORSET ECHO
Badgers Disturb Graves at Dorchester Cemetery
Wednesday 21st July 2010 1:00pm
A BEREAVED mother was shocked to find disturbed graves when she went to pay her respects to her daughter.

Janet Crichard, 80, took flowers to her daughter Vivienne Cunningham’s grave in Dorchester’s cemetery in Weymouth Avenue and found what she believes are badger tunnels around other graves and headstones.

Mrs Critchard fears her daughter’s grave could be dug up if the badgers continue and is worried the families of affected graves will be left upset if they visit.

She said: “I believe the badgers have been digging. There’s a badger set going right under the graves and they are making pathways. Once a badger has got in, a whole sett can make a terrible mess.”

Mrs Crichard said her aunt and uncle are also buried in the same grave and she is worried that as badgers are protected they will be left to cause more damage.

She said: “I’m worried about my daughter’s grave. My aunt and uncle are also buried there so it’s a family grave. It would really distress me and anybody else if my family’s grave was affected.” She added: “Something has got to be done and quickly.”

In May badger setts were found to have caused similar damage in Symondsbury graveyard. Nearby residents were kept awake by the sett and coffin handles were found amongst the dug-up earth.

Dorchester Town Council clerk Dennis Holmes said there was a problem with rabbits at the cemetery but he would keep an open mind about badgers.  He said: “The rabbits are coming from the railway embankment. We put in rabbit-proof fencing in the bit of the cemetery without the boundary wall. But they have been burrowing through the embankment and if they go deep enough they can come up under the wall.”

Mr Holmes said that a rabbit or group of rabbits caused particular disturbance by burrowing recently around graves. He added: “There is nothing to suggest it was anything other than rabbits.”

Mr Holmes said it was unlikely to be badgers as it would be difficult for them to get in and that the burrows were in different places to where he would expect. He added that there had been no reports of badgers as far as he knew but the council would deal with it if there was definitive proof.

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and from Ireland......

DROMORE LEADER
Badger carcases giving cause for local concern
Published Date: 20 July 2010

By PAUL WILKINSON

A LOCAL councillor is calling for action amid mounting concerns over the number of dead badgers lying on rural roads in the wider Dromore and Dromara areas.

The DUP's David Herron said this week he had been contacted by a number of people reporting badger carcases on local roads.

"One man said he had seen six on roads around Waringsford and Kinallen in the space of a few weeks," he said.

Mr. Herron, who said he too had noted a scattering of dead badgers, believes a cull may be needed.

"They seem to have been growing in numbers in recent years," he said. "They're everywhere. I don't know if they're overpopulated or not, but if it's becoming a problem them surely something needs to be done about it; their numbers need to be reduced; there needs to be a cull or something."

Smell

The Dromore ward councillor said that not only did the dead badgers make for "an awful smell and mess" on the roads, but there was concern among the farming community about badgers spreading disease among livestock.

"If it is the case that they are harmful to animals and they are overpopulated then the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has to do something about it."

Mr. Herron said one local resident had wondered if the dead animals were being shot and dumped by the roadside. "I certainly wouldn't be in favour of that," he said, "but I would like to see the Department doing something." When Banbridge District Council reconvenes in August, after its summer break, Mr. Herron will be asking the local authority to write, he said, to both the Department of Agriculture and the USPCA."

Spokesman

A DARD spokesperson said, "Unfortunately a significant number of badgers are killed in road traffic accidents every year.

"A number of these badger carcases are collected by DARD and post-mortemed as part of a representative survey to check for TB (tuberculosis). DARD is not aware of any foul play involving badgers, which are a protected species. However, suspicion of any such acts should be reported to the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and to the Police Service of Northern Ireland."

 

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