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?

Maybe he built and cooked it in an earth oven. Very easy to do.

I think it’s a great example of a dad in difficult circumstances, trying to do his best for his kids.

Survival Lily is awesome. If he is a male version of Lily he is ace.

It’s not too far-fetched that a homeless person might have a pan and a fire and some water.

It's interesting how people think that without a house you can't possibly have access to charge for your phone or the means to store or cook food.

If you had to live in the woods, wouldn't you try to secure all these things?

I think I’d drop out of a tree and steal the Sheriff’s hog roast.

It's interesting how people think that without a house you can't possibly have access to charge for your phone

I'll be honest, I can't imagine how you would charge a phone in the woods. 

You can use a solar charger or a hand cranked charger. But they aren't cheap.

Oh boy, bookmarking this one...

I'll be honest, I can't imagine how you would charge a phone in the woods.

If you slept in the woods at night, your DC lived elsewhere and and you needed to phone them, wouldn't you manage it? You'd find a way, if course you would.

You don't have to stay in the woods, the OP's ex isn't cut off from all civilisation! He just sleeps there.

There are lots of places you can go to charge a phone. Perhaps a nearby cafe might let you charge your phone for free, or if you buy a cup of tea. Perhaps there's a library nearby. Perhaps you have a half in the pub with a friend on evening and charge your phone, saving the charge for days by only turning it on when you need it.

Or perhaps, even though you sleep in the woods you still have a vehicle and can charge the phone in the car.

Perhaps you've got a wind-up mobile charger - here's a basic one for £3.96. www.gearbest.com/other-camping-gadgets/pp_425046.html

Or, maybe you have a solar power charger. Here's one for £15. www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/garage-equipment/battery-chargers-jump-starters/halfords-solar-battery-maintainer-1-5w

Or maybe you're really sorted and you store energy in 12v batteries which you charge with solar panels or wind turbines.

Or perhaps you have a petrol generator and get power off that.

Just because someone is homeless, or lives in the woods, doesn't mean that have no money, no possessions or that they lack ingenuity. In fact, to make living in the woods successful you probably need a fair amount of practical intelligence.

You can use a solar charger or a hand cranked charger. But they aren't cheap.

Hand cranked charger £3.96 www.gearbest.com/other-camping-gadgets/pp_425046.html

Wind power phone charger £3.99 www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Phone-Charger-Wind-Power-Generator-Alternator-Mini-Small-Turbine-Regulator-/192604504290

tbh they're probably frustratingly shit, more money will buy better quality. But the OP said her ex was homeless, not penniless.

Just because someone is homeless, or lives in the woods, doesn't mean that have no money, no possessions or that they lack ingenuity

I didn't suggest any of those things whatsoever.

I said that I couldn't imagine how to charge a phone in the woods - which I couldn't, because it's not something I'd thought about before I read this thread.

This is one of the best and funniest threads I've read.

I also have a great admiration for the OP, facilitating contact in difficult circumstances.

Sorry no helpful input on the badger health situation, but couldn't help but have a little giggle that anything outside the M25 is rural!

I did a foraging course at river cottage a few years ago and we cooked squirrel, badger properly a bit tough though.

I did a foraging course at river cottage

I hope you washed your hair in the morning! 

Or he could have the kids to stay and they could all live like badgers for the weekend. Feasting on worms. For Gods sake give slugs a miss though. The DM had a very sad story last week of a young man who drunkenly swallowed a slug as a dare and became very ill with infection, causing encephalitis and permanent brain damn. He died ten years later. It was a really sad story.

Anyway this chap has a great time eating worms.

amp.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/03/being-beast-charles-foster-review-man-whoate-worms-like-badger

To be fair a badger carries a lot of nutrition its a lot like pig meat. More like a young pig. There's quite a bit of meat on them. It's the way they die that is normally the issue. But if her has been there n knows how n considers it safe then I don't know what the problem is. The meal they ate there is more nutritious than most meals that are shop bought. Re: the TB risk your more likely to contract that from cows than badgers only 15% of badgers have TB and as long as the meat had been cooked thoroughly there isn't an issue. I haven't tasted badger but wouldn't turn it away if it was put in front of me. I have however eaten pigeon and once tried boiled headhog which was boiled in clay prickles attached then the clay was broken away and prickles came with it and you were left with the flesh which tasted a lot like chicken. I wouldn't believe everything you hear fact is they want you to think living off the land is dangerous so you are more likely to buy the meats pumped with chemicals from the shops.

Badger good.
Slugs bad.

news.sky.com/story/amp/australian-man-sam-ballard-who-was-left-paralysed-after-eating-a-slug-dies-aged-28-11545373

God we are all so far removed from the planet aren't we? Hundreds of years ago no-one would blink at killing a rabbit and using every bit of it if possible. We have become so squeamish and detached from what is the real world, I include myself in this but why is this case and so sad. It is ok to eat an intensively reared cow and carry around a leather handbag but not to eat a wild rabbit and have a toy rabbit ear? wtf is the difference?? I was on the canal tow path today and seeing how people lived on their boats, I thought about this thread and how much more connected the river folk are to their environment - made me wistful.

It's obviously not an issue this time as your children are ok, but if the badger was salvaged after being killed on a road, then it's advisable not to eat larger animals if found on the side of a road. Animals such as badger and deer might not be killed immediately, and will sometimes have to be put to sleep by a vet. Problem is, the vets don't often take the bodies, so they're left. There have been instances where dogs have died after being fed roadkill, so maybe not the safest source of food.

My DH says that skinning a badger is very difficult - like skinning a dogfish. So he's very impressed that the OP's husband managed to skin it himself.
I always thought that it's best to eat vegetarian animals and those that eat meat taste nasty. Badgers definitely eat meat and are demons for getting into chicken runs because they did under the wire fence even if you've buried it into the ground. Plus if your dog gets down a sett a badger can rip it to shreds with its enormous claws.
My first date with my DH was badger watching.

Oh my goodness I've just read the comment about how about the ex taking the kids to macdonalds instead as a safer alternative. I thought it might be someone having a laugh but I fear not. This thread is bringing up exactly why we are fucking up our planet. How can it have got to the point where someone is genuinely so scared of and disconnected from the natural world that they'd decide that a macdonalds hamburger was a better option than wild meat?! The OPs ex clearly knows his survival skills, so the chances of him deciding to feed his kids some ageing decaying carcass are very slim (also, the kids are fine, which is also quite suggestive of his competence). Between a factory-farmed cow fed on antibiotic growth promoters and turned into slurry before being formed into a hamburger, and a bit of badger - no contest.

Though I must admit that the only time that I'd go for eating roadkill was if I was the one whose car had despatched it in the first place. Happens fairly regularly with pheasants in the west country! Not sure what I'd decide if it was a deer. Despite loving venison I rather hope i never get to find out!

Sainsbury's are starting to sell crickets.

That badger is staring to sound more appetising now.