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The conservation and protection of badgers, their setts and their habitat in our County can only be achieved with your help.
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Report New or Existing Setts |
If
you know of any badger setts in the county, please submit a sett
record form. Our aim is to build up a complete record of all setts in
the county, and these are monitored as regularly as possible by our
network of local contacts.
Please remember always to
be very discreet who you tell about badger setts, especially their precise
location. There are people about who enjoy digging badgers (usually with
terriers) and who cause untold suffering to these fascinating and harmless
creatures.
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Report Badger Crime |
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Badgers and their setts enjoy total protection under “The Protection of Badgers Act 1992”
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Badger crime can take place in a number of ways;
- Lamping and shooting of badgers at night using high-powered lamps and vehicles
- Snares; there are both legal and illegal snares in our countryside;
however it is illegal to put any type of snare on a badger sett or a badger run.
- Under The Hunting Act 2004 it is now illegal for any hunt to block
up a badger sett or dogs to mark at a badger sett.
- By far the most sinister crime is the digging of setts,
catching of the animals and baiting them with dogs, either on site or elsewhere.
If you think you see
anybody badger digging, or carrying spades and with terrier dogs in areas
near to a sett, please call the police using 999 and a badger
group contact without delay. If this proves difficult, then
contact the Police Wildlife Crime Officer, DC Jackie Murdoch. All crime in progess dial
999 but for other enquiries use the Thames Valley Police non-emergency number, 0845 8505505.
You should be ready to give the following
details:
- how many men, and what
are their descriptions?
- do they have dogs with
them, and if so how many and what sort?
- exactly where are they?
- do you know if they have
a vehicle parked nearby?
- if so, the make, model,
colour and registration number, and where it is parked
- anything else which will
help attending police to locate the suspects
Do not challenge suspect diggers yourself, as some of them can be
dangerous.
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Please refer to the Badger Trust for additional information.
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Report Injured or Dead Badgers |
If you come across an
injured badger within the county, please phone the local
contact for the area you are in. Our group contacts can be reached 24/7;
each contact has specialised rescue equipment; please do not attempt to pick up an injured badger yourself; they can bite!
If you come across an injured badger
anywhere else in the country, please call the RSPCA national reporting
hotline on 0870 55 55 999 or a local veterinary surgeon or wildlife hospital.
If you find a dead badger,
please notify the local contact for the area you
are in, or submit a casualty report. This is important whether it is lying at the side of the road,
or elsewhere. If it has signs of having been snared, or injuries not
consistent with being hit by a car, it is crucial that we are told as soon
as possible, as well as the police or RSPCA.
It is especially important
that we are told immediately of dead badgers in the spring time, as if the
casualty is a lactating sow there may well be orphaned cubs left starving
underground, which will need rescuing and rearing.
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Planning Applications |
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Tell us about planning applications which may effect badgers and their setts;
we are keen to ensure any building application takes into account badgers and their setts.
We will enter into discussions with Councils, developers and environmental consultants.
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