My kids' dad fed them badger

[Loulamummy]

I'm not joking. We are separated and he sees them for the day once every few weeks. Last week he took them for the day in London and when I picked them up they told me, very casually, that Daddy had given them badger with rice for lunch. He had sent me a picture a few days earlier of a dead badger so it is totally plausible, and given that he has been homeless for the last couple of years and often 'lives off the land' I am certain he would not think twice about eating a badger. He told the kids that he steamed the meat for 4hrs but now i'm really worried about the whole TB thing. They seem fine but not sure if I should get them checked out. Any words of wisdom?

This isn’t totally unbelievable. My ex is also homeless and manages to see the children. I drop them off with him in the town and he takes them round the parks, shops and museums etc for the day.
He also has a phone and manages to charge it. He was staying with some other people in a caravan in some fields but now I think he moves around sleeping on people’s sofas.

I have a good friend who eats roadkill (assuming the innards haven't been squashed). He lives in a house and everything. I've been on bike rides with him where he will pick up a dead rabbit and carry it in his bag to take home and cook.

I find this believable, DP knows some people who live in woodlands on unofficial campsites until they are moved on. Very into their wild meats, foraging etc. I would imagine it was perfectly safe to eat if it had been cooked for hours. OP you can always make a GP appointment to ask if you're worried.

I suspect it probably was not badger but your ex was just telling them stories —or it’s not true at all—

This is so bizarre I don't think it could be made up.
I believe you op. I'd be worried about tb and food poisoning.
Is your ex a bit.... weird?

As long as it 'wasn't just Badger, it was M&S Badger' they'll be fine.

Btw you can charge your phone in libraries.
I work in libraries helping people with their benefits and we have lots of homeless people who charge their phones, use the computers and other facilities.

Surely couscous goes better with badger?

Ahhh

Good Morning Mumsnet

Is this in classics yet?

I live in Hertfordshire, inside the M25, and next to some woods. Definitely have badgers, as I nearly ran into two a couple of weeks ago. I'll keep an eye out for your ex, although I've never fancied the thought of badger. They are weird looking animals.

Reported to Brian May aka Patron Saint of Badgers

Op just badger your kids for more info about this,it can't be true surely?

I can imagine a situation where this could be true, not everyone has a conventional lifestyle.

Badgers are omnivores, not carnivores as someone uptrend said.

One got into my garden, rampaged through the sweetcorn eating all the cobs then did a massive poo in the middle of the parsley. There were lots of tiny seeds in the poo so it had probably been eating lots of blackberries. Apparently they really go for sweetcorn and it can be a major problem on allotments.

Read an article a few years back about eating badger - just needs to be cooked properly. The heat from cooking kills tb. That said, I suspect he was joking - the only meat that tastes a bit like tender beef is venison, I believe badger is more like pork (pigs are also omnivores we do eat them!)

“@CoachBombay

Brian May will not approve of this...“

Goddammit i’ve got that song going round my head now

Slightly warm badger and rice. From a Tupperware. At the NHM.
Crikey, that's a an amazing 'what did you do at the weekend' tale to tell at school on Monday!

I reckon this is plausible. Earlier this week, a colleague was telling me about her lovely friend whose ex fed their children badger. We all snorted with laughter, but she insisted it was true. She's extremely well-educated (Uni Professor), and had no reason to lie. I reckon her friend must be the OP.

Funniest thread I've read in ages. Sett menu

Well done for bringing up DC that will eat badger OP.

Next time I do roast beef I'm going to tell DC it's badger. They might actually eat it

busbottom

Ahhh
Good Morning Mumsnet

Indeed. I love this place.

No vegetables? Nothing green? I’d be having words about that.

I'm picturing OP's XH as bear grills.

All this living in the woods, organising wild food and taking the kids to museums ... I want it to be true !

Whatever faults your ex has you've got to admire his plotting of the long con, which you seem to have fallen for hook line and badger catching implement