Badgers of Britain

12/19/2005

The Independent (London, England);

By Hans Kruuk

Having been involved in ecological research on badgers for many years, I am reminded in the current debate about management of the TB problem of a number of well-established ecological points that are worth bringing to attention.

Badger densities in the problem areas are higher than anywhere else in the world, and TB in British cattle occurs where badger densities are highest. Badgers in Britain eat mostly earthworms, of one species (Lumbricus terrestris), and it has been shown that badger densities are directly correlated with earthworm biomass, suggesting that badger numbers are limited by earthworms.

Badgers catch their worms in pasture, and in these same pastures they also contact cattle; transmission of TB can take place through sputum and urine. Earthworm biomass in English pastures is enormous (about equivalent to the biomass of cattle that can be grazed).

Taken together, these relationships suggest that to control badger numbers and TB transmission to cattle, one needs to reduce earthworm numbers in pastures in the problem areas.

12/20/2005

The Independent (London, England);

By Helen Keats

Sir: I am skeptical that a badger cull will prevent TB amongst cattle. However, reducing earthworm numbers to control badger numbers will not work either. They will just find alternative food supplies. When earthworms are in short supply, badgers feast on my bantam hens, ripping the sides off the henhouse to get to them.

Badgers are Britain's largest carnivorous animal, with no natural predators and protected by law, hence the rise in numbers. There is a huge sentimentality about them. They certainly cause us more problems than do foxes.

12/21/2005

Daily Post (Liverpool, England);

By Betty Lee

In response to Spencer Roger's letter "Why not cull vicious Predator" Nobody is happy about the cull of animals to prevent the spread of disease but the need to cull millions of animals as a result of Foot and Mouth, BSE and many other diseases, as well as bovine TB, is a direct consequence of the excesses of the intensive farming industry.

Badgers, "vicious predators" (earthworms form their major food source), are yet another species, farmland birds for example, to fall victim to our intensive use of the land.

To blame badgers for the spread of the disease is out of all proportion to the proven knowledge that cattle to cattle transmission is by far the major factor. Even where all badgers have been slaughtered in parts of Ireland bovine TB is still a problem!

Publication: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition;

BADGER [badger] name for several related members of the weasel family. Most badgers are large, nocturnal, burrowing animals, with broad, heavy bodies, long snouts, large, sharp claws, and long, grizzled fur. The Old World badger, Meles meles, is found in Europe and in Asia N of the Himalayas; it is about 3 ft (90 cm) long, with a 4-in. (10-cm) tail, and weighs about 30 lb (13.6 kg). Its unusual coloring, light above and dark below, is unlike that of most mammals but is found in some other members of the family. The head is white, with a conspicuous black stripe on each side. European badgers live, often in groups, in large burrows called sets, which they usually dig in dry slopes in woods. They emerge at night to forage for food; their diet is mainly earthworms but also includes rodents, young rabbits, insects, and plant matter. The American badger, Taxidea taxus, is about 2 ft (60 cm) long, with a 5-in. (13-cm) tail and weighs 12 to 24 lb (5.4-10.8 kg); it is very short-legged, which gives its body a flattened appearance. The fur is yellowish gray and the face black, with a white stripe over the forehead and around each eye. It is found in open grasslands and deserts of W and central North America, from N Alberta to N Mexico. It feeds largely on rodents and carrion; an extremely swift burrower, it pursues ground squirrels and prairie dogs into their holes, and may construct its own living quarters 30 ft (9.1 m) below ground level. American badgers are solitary and mostly nocturnal; in the extreme north they sleep through the winter. Several kinds of badger are found in SE Asia; these are classified in a number of genera. Badgers are classified in the phylum Chordata , subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Carnivora, family Mustelidae.