Lancashire Badger Group

Annual General Meeting (AGM) Report 2002

16th March 2002

An excellent slide show and talk was given by this year's Guest Speaker, David Neighbour, on otters.

The Group continues to be represented at many of the County Shows, and sales of goods and slideshows have raised money for the protection of Lancashire's badgers. During the year one sett was capped with protective steel mesh and the Group carried out a large survey of the route for a proposed gas pipeline.

Foot and Mouth disease led to the closure of much of the countryside last year, which made checking setts difficult and some are reported to have been dug. Income from surveys was also curtailed, and some agricultural shows and events at which the Group's stall was scheduled to be present had to be cancelled. The cull of so many livestock also caused difficulties for badgers. They cannot forage in grass growing to above five inches high, and with so many fields left ungrazed this year finding food has been a problem for many.

One Local Authority has voted the Group some Grant funds in recognition of their help in pointing up Planning Applications on land where a sett is present. It was mentioned how frequently development is held up at the very last minute by the revelation that a badger sett is in existence on a proposed building site. Oddly, people tend not to bring the matter up at planning stage (when the presence of a sett would be grounds for refusal of permission to disturb the site,) but instead meet the bulldozers with the information that badgers are present. Since Planning Permission cannot be rescinded once granted, the developer, while unable to proceed with on-site works at that time, is often granted a special Licence to have the badgers moved on by badger experts. In the past the Group has built a new sett nearby in the hope that the evicted badgers will use it, but unfortunately the animals chose to disperse to other local setts and the man-made sett, though visited, is still uninhabited. If only people would speak out earlier, the badgers would not need to be moved; no building work using machinery is permitted anywhere within 30 metres of a badger sett without a special Licence and appropriate supervision. Last year, however, a mound of soil left at a building site proved to represent an attractive new home for local badgers, which moved in and built a sett in it. Luckily their presence was noticed and the impromptu development left undisturbed!

Badgers seem to have begun to plague some local gardens, with people having to resort to electric fencing to deter them from digging in their worm-rich soil. Applying human male urine from a watering can to areas the gardener wishes to protect seems to work as a deterrent also. It is not known if the badger simply dislikes the odour or thinks the humans have "marked" or claimed the area thus anointed. Either way, this tip, described to the Group by Pauline Kidner during her excellent talk at a previous Group AGM, does seem to work.

A General Investigative Licence is to be applied for by the Group from English Nature. This is to cover members attending a sett digging incident in an advisory capacity to the Police: technically the member, as an ordinary member of the public, could otherwise be deemed to be breaking the law as much as those interfering with the sett.

Two known badger diggers from Ormskirk were apprehended in Wales in the period while attempting to interfere with setts: this is seen as a welcome suggestion that Group surveillance of setts is paying off, because these people have chosen to leave alone local setts which are known to be watched. Unfortunately they got off, because although the dog emerged from the sett with a mouthful of badger hairs, no sett visit records were available to support the obvious fact that the sett was inhabited. The importance of keeping up-to-date with sett visit reports was once again stressed. Badger baiters too often are represented in court by the very best defence lawyers paid for through membership of clubs to which they belong.

It should be remembered that badger baiting involves great cruelty to the dogs as well as badgers. A man in Rossendale appeared in court in April for badger-related injuries to his dog, which was picked up by the dog warden in Rossendale with a missing lower jaw. The injury had not been treated because such damage is so typical of a fight with a badger that any vet would report it to the police straight away. It should be remembered that no dog would attack an animal of such obviously superior strength as a badger of its own accord, which is why the badger is often deliberately injured first, to "even the odds". This person attempted to claim back his dog but was refused custody. Amongst badger baiters, it is apparently considered a matter of pride to own such a badly injured dog, because it shows the poor creature has been "valiant" in taking on a badger. The mind boggles.

Lancashire Wildlife Police met with experts to discuss ways of combating badger digging, and ways to protect setts. A new ruling has made their job more difficult: if the sett tunnels have not been breached when diggers are apprehended it can be claimed that the sett has not been damaged. This is supposed to protect farmers for example doing drainage work unaware of the presence of a sett in the vicinity.

Visits to the hide have been increasingly popular, but the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001 meant that all such visits had to be postponed. The Group still hopes to purchase a piece of woodland with a sett in it so that a large permanent hide can be built to further enjoyment of and education about badgers.

If you would like to help us help Lancashire's badgers, or perhaps visit a hide, you can contact us on the Group's new e-mail address: enquiries@lancashirebadgergroup.org.uk.