An iconic wildlife species, badgers are the UKs largest remaining carnivores. I absolutely love seeing them, photographing them and watching them on camera traps. Badgers are unlike any other animal in the world and have been in the UK for thousands of years.
However, badger populations can face localised extinctions due to pressures from humans.
Why protect badgers?
Badgers are a native species, found in rural and urban areas and are considered to be ecosystem engineers, meaning they have an important role and influence shaping habitats and their ecology. In fact, badger setts can be 100 years old and spread over 50 meters! (1) Setts can be used by other wildlife including foxes. Their digging activity and the creation of latrines is important for soil health and invertebrates. As omnivorous mammals, they are active in dispersing seeds and regulating invertebrate numbers.
So badgers are important to the ecosystems humans depend on.
Bovine TB and badgers
Bovine TB is a disease caused by a bacteria Mycobacterium bovis. It's devastating disease to farmers and livestock. Between April 2023- March 2024, 21 298 animals were slaughtered due to TB in England. (2)
Mycobacterium bovis also infects badgers and can be spread to cattle through the sharing of environments. Consequently, the government introduced a badger cull as a temporary measure to try and stop the spread of TB, resulting in the cull of 230,000 badgers since 2013.
However there is no evidence to suggest that badger culling is effective. When numbers of badgers are reduced, individuals tend to spread more across territories (3). Furthermore, spread of bovine TB is cow to cow in 94% of cases (4). Routine skin testing, vaccinations, improved farming methods that monitor cattle movements, avoid the mass production of animals in in closed spaces would reduce the spread of bovine TB.
Thank fully badger culling is to be phased out by 2025 and instead vaccinate animals, which is cruelty free and more cost effective (3).
Do badgers affect hedgehogs?
It is often thought that badgers impact hedgehog numbers. Both hedgehogs and badgers are nocturnal and compete for similar foods such as invertebrates. badgers have been noted to predate on hedgehogs but this mostly occurs when there is a high competition for resources and when badger numbers are very high. Road deaths, habitat fragmentation and declines in invertebrate numbers are the major issues facing hedgehogs.
Ground nesting birds
It is thought that badgers affect ground nesting birds as they have been found to eat birds eggs. However, the numbers of ground nesting birds have been falling in areas where badger numbers are low (5). There are more significant impacts that ground nesting birds face, including loss of habitats and disturbance by people and dogs.
Historically, there is a view of badgers to be pests, out of control and farmland enemies. However, it is possible to work alongside badgers in the natural environment and appreciate these native mammals.
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