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?

Hi Loula,

That bunny ear will definitely be covered in pathogenic (illness causing) bacteria. Could you just buy your DD a replacement version without the dead animal parts?

I had a lucky rabbit's foot in the 70s and a tail. Kept it for years, might still be in the house somewhere. I hope it's not like the monkey's paw.....

That rabbit is going to give me nightmares 😱😱😱
What sort of person would find it okay to let their child have that.
Please burn it and buy her a new one.
The rabbit concerns me far more than the badger for some reason.

Oh, I love the bunny, I'd have wanted one too when I was a child. If

I wonder if it was Mr Badger,or Mrs Badger that got eaten. Hopefully Mr Badger,, as Mrs Badger would have some toddler badgers in her Sett to look after.

That rabbit deserves a whole thread to itself.

I'm another one who thinks steaming for 4 hours is not the right way to cook most meat. I have, however, been known to cook fish or chicken in a steamer. If you wrap it in foil with herbs and seasoing it cooks along with whatever veg you are cooking.

I often put a piece of salmon on top of rice in the rice cooker.

I'm not sure how you would steam on a camp fire, 4 hours is a long timme to keep topping up water.

No sorry it looks photoshopped - the rabbit.

I'm sure they are omnivores too!!!

Badgers love mashed potatoe!!!!

Cannot understand why people are being so precious about the rabbit. It's really cool and I bet its lovely and soft.

Those calling the ex a psychopath should really have a think about how we treat people on the margins of society. It all smacks a bit of "burn the witch". I haven't seen anything to suggest that the (totally awesome and sensible) op thinks that her eccentric ex is a danger to the kids, and actually he seems to really really love them and to want to care for them within his limited means. He reminds me a bit of the dad in Danny Champion of the World (I may be projecting a little 😂).

^
Absolutely. Different is okay; isn't that what we're trying to teach our children? If OP is happy with contact and doesn't see any danger, just a bit of stuff that's unusual to some others, then we should probably trust her judgment. She's (and exH) raising lovely kids who will have a myriad of unusual experiences to shape their growth, and that's not a bad thing in this sterile age.

My two boys would definitely try badger, given half a chance.

My two boys would definitely try badger, given half a chance.

But surely that'd be a badger that had been freshly killed, not a random, bloated carcass that someone had stumbled across with no idea of how/why it died. That's just grim...

Jesus, that rabbit!

Is there a bunny wandering round Hampshire with a fake ear and tail as well?

And I say that as someone who has reluctantly eaten squirrel and beaver in neighbour's stews surrounded by Canadian rednecks. But these were freshly hunted, relatively healthy critters at least - not potentially poisoned or rancid corpses they stumbled across!!

My friend had a toy monkey that was made from a real monkey. Yes, somebody killed a monkey then used the fur to create a monkey-shaped thing to give to a child to play with. It was a grotesque looking item at that. I don't know if it was a factor in her becoming a lifelong vegan. I hate that attitude to the natural world - roadkill is a bit different, though.

Presumably that rabbit had already been killed for meat though?

That bunny

What a thread 😂😂

The ex probably charges his phone in librarys etc like all the other phone owning people do

I own a phone and I've never charged it at a library

When I was homeless I charged mine at a market cafe. I would leave it plugged in and wander about talking to people.

I popped to Budgens but all the squirrel has gone! I'll check in the week to see if they've restocked. There's a fat cheeky one in my garden I could offer them

I am bristling with in dig nation at some of the comments on this thread.

I am not homeless but I have charged my phone in the baby changing room in Sainsbury's, in a plug socket the cleaners use.

Only in emergencies and during feeding and changing babies over the years, but as I am not homeless I suspect it makes me something of a CF. I must owe Sainsbury's a few pence in electricity by now.

I've never seen a homeless person with a steamer. This is a very posh homeless person.

AllTakenSoRubbishUsername how many people do you know personally who are living in the woods, or out of vans or cars?

Unless you know several, what is the point of your comment?

Or are you just saying you've never seen a street homeless person with a steamer?

What's that got to do with someone living off the land in the woods?