Badgers are vermin and shouldn't be so bloody be protected

[Vagabond]

Badgers are huge and ugly bastards. We've had one in our garden for the last two nights who killed our daddy-bunny and who has now breached our best enclosure to take our babies too. You should see these beasts. Size of a big dog and bloody frightening. I always thought Badgers would be cute and snuggly - NOT - they're ugly beasts who don't deserve the protection they get. They spread TB, they kill chickens, bunnies and all sorts of garden animals and all they seem to contribute is mass murder and digging great, big holes in your garden.

I loathe the creatures.

Must learn to read titles properly.

I was about to come to the defence of Budgies

applesandcider- I agree vaccination is the way to go. The badger vaccine is currently being tested,and the cattle vaccine is well on it's way too..

DEFRA have just released figures stating that here in Pembrokeshire the amount of cattle slaughtered due to TB,has reduced by 51% in just under 2 years. This has been as a direct result of a stricter testing regime, and improved cattle control measures.However testing for TB, although compulsory prior to any 3 day farm 'shows', are still not enforced for 1 day shows.. It is oversights like this, which really do not help here!

We have many setts and i have met the occupants regularly,even in the daytime,yet the farmers' on either side of us, have never had a case of TB in their cattle!

OP YABU Badgers are lovely and protected probably.......

If we ate badgers there would be more of them as we could farm them. Wonder how they taste.

probably like chicken..

thats what everyone says about meat people are unsure about! lol!

oh dear, we better make sure we don't protect wolves or tigers or any other carnivore who might eat bunnies.. i suppose only cuddly herbivores deserve protection.. but only if they're not 'ugly'.

If we farm them we could also make nice badger fur coats, ideal for children on winter nights. Furry and warm but with white stripes for traffic visibility (although this seems not to work for the badgers I run over at night).

Badgers are Britain's largest carnivore

I've always found that fact a little embarrassing for some reason

Here, marvel at our scary magnificent....umm badger. Raarr

Hmm, they are bitey, scratchy fuckers and they have a very sharp locking bite. I have inspected one at close range on the vet's table while it was put under, they've got serious teeth and claws.

But they have as much right to the countryside as anyone so whilst YANBU to be pissed of with them killing your rabbits, but I'm afraid it's up to you to make 'em safer. Same as I have to deer-proof my veg patch as that's what we have a proliferation of around here.

Dooinmecleanin - your dad was lucky, it is not advisable to pick up a badger if it's been hit. I've heard of people who pop them on the back seat of their car, sometimes next to the kiddies car seats to take them to the vet and they wake up and go apeshit in the car. Not advisable.

JBellingham just had to say how much I am snorting with laughter at the fab thought of badgers fur coats to keep the childers safe. Here, this is for you

And the OP returns....

Thanks for all your replies. I have had a good chuckle.

Yes, I do agree that we humans are encroaching on wildlife and that it's not fair to hate the bitey fuckers just because they're ugly and, err...bitey.

We've had the local badger expert around (he actually gives talks on badgers at our local woods - who'd have thought?). Anyway, turns out that the badgers are coming out of hibernation now and they're hungry as hell and will get into just about anything.

Apparently the best thing you can do to keep badgers away from hutches/coops is to build two fenced enclosures, six inches apart. This creates the best barrier that they find hardest to breach. They'll still dig underneath though, so you have to dig chicken wire into the floor of coops/hutches so they can't dig through.

We have over 40 badger setts within one mile of our house so I guess I'll have to get used to it.

Next time I hear one rampaging through our garden, I shall try to cast a less baleful eye on the bitey blighters.

From experience, Badgers can (and do) dig through buried chicken wire. I had 8 beautiful quail and the bitey fuckers dug underneath the holding pen and the the chicken wire underneath the quail house. I'd say they were determined to get my quail.

LMFAO at the fur coat comments!!!

Re eating the bitey fuckers - apparently (according to my local friends who have tried it) Badger tastes a bit like pork! I'm not sure I'd like to stick one on the barbie though!

Funny though - if my dogs every come across a badger carcass, they avoid it completely! Despite the fact that they love rolling in badger poo!