road kill badgers??

[grapplin]

has anyone noticed an increase of badgers by the side of the road????i'v seen 4 today in a 20 mile stretch,is this a general trend or just a sad fluke??? thanks.

[salukiwhippet]

It is partly due to the time of year (youngsters are being pushed away from setts to make room for this years cubs), and partly I suspect due to the massive increase in badger numbers - i read somewhere that they're now as numerous as foxes. We certainly see as many badgers as foxes when we're out with the lamp.

James

[wildliferescuer]

A majority of the RTA badgers we get in at this time of year are not youngsters, but old ones, particularly males which are pushed out of the setts when cubs are born.

[salukiwhippet]

I stand corrected. Explains why more of the little single hole setts are in use at this time of year too I suppose, kinda retirement annexes!

James

[wildliferescuer]

Originally Posted by salukiwhippet

I stand corrected. Explains why more of the little single hole setts are in use at this time of year too I suppose, kinda retirement annexes!

James

Quite possibly. These oldies will never be accepted back into their social group & obviously will not be accepted by any other group, & end up more or less starving to death, or suffering from massively infected territorial injuries inflicted.

[grapplin]

cheers folks

[Deerhunter]

Originally Posted by wildliferescuer

A majority of the RTA badgers we get in at this time of year are not youngsters, but old ones, particularly males which are pushed out of the setts when cubs are born.

Do Badgers control their own numbers?

[Nightranger]

Originally Posted by salukiwhippet

I stand corrected. Explains why more of the little single hole setts are in use at this time of year too I suppose, kinda retirement annexes!

James

Absolutely, outlier sets are a well known aspect of badger communities although it is mainly males that occupy the setts, as you said. There is some evidence that outlier setts are also used by individuals caught out by the rising sun when out foraging but this does not seem to be the primary use. Sadly, outlier setts can often be some way from the main sett complex and isolated by a road or worse still, a perfect damp meadow suitable for foraging may also be across a road.

Older animals can also be isolated within the main sett and it is not unusual for later generations to excavate the remains of a long-dead relative when extending a sett after the original chamber was walled up.

[Bullseye]

From the amount of dead badgers I see by the roadside I'm amazed that there are any left !

[jessshakespeare]

That, and the people digging them up for sport