Twilight in a British woodland. The last of the sun’s rays illuminate the forest floor, which has been transformed into a miniature moonscape. Piles of earth and holes pepper the side of the hill. What is going on? You hold yourself still – the animal you are looking for is exceptionally shy. And then…. there! A stripy face appears from one of the holes. It’s the animal you’ve been waiting for – the badger.
Badgers exist at higher densities in the UK than anywhere else in the world. Despite this, they are surprisingly shy and hard to spot – indeed I realised while writing this article that I’d never seen a live one. As a result, their lives are somewhat of a mystery. Even when they are sighted, badgers aren’t always greeted with universal delight. No article on badgers can shy away from their role in spreading bovine TB, and the infamous English badger cull. But before discussing such grim and weighty matters, let’s have a look at the little-known life of the animal.
Probably the most famous badger in the world is Mr Badger, from The Wind in the Willows. In the book, Mr Badger is a soft-hearted loner, who, in the words of his friend Ratty, “simply hates society”. In reality, badgers are highly social creatures, living in groups of up to thirty individuals. Why they do this isn’t very clear – unlike other social mammals, badgers do not hunt together or warn each other of predators. It is thought the high population densities in the UK have forced poor old Mr Badger to tolerate his own kind. In Europe, where badgers are hunted much more extensively and numbers are lower, they tend to be more solitary.
When Mr Badger isn’t out protecting Toad Hall from vicious weasels, he is likely to be found in his palatial underground house. The Wind in the Willows was on firmer ground here – badger setts can be enormous, occupying areas up to 1km2.1 Badgers are tidy creatures, obsessively changing their bedding and moving between different bedrooms. Such frenetic activity has large impacts on the surrounding ecosystem, with badger setts associated with a high diversity of plants and invertebrates.1 Setts are often surrounded by nettles and elder, plants which enjoy the high nutrient conditions created by badger latrines.2
Underground, in their rather bijou setts, badgers are safe. It is very different story once they venture outside.
In many parts of England, mostly in the South West, foraging badgers face the very real risk of being shot as part of a cull aiming to reduce incidence of bovine TB. Bovine TB is a horrible disease, with infected livestock slowly developing lesions as the disease consumes their lungs. Bovine TB can even infect humans, however, since the widespread pasteurisation of milk this has rarely occurred in the UK.3
There is no scientific doubt that badgers can also contract the disease and spread it to cattle. With badger numbers having increased 103% since 1980,2 surely a reduction in badger numbers would reduce the spread of bovine TB?
It was with such ideas in mind that the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT) was launched in 1998. It found culling badgers would reduce the incidence of bovine TB by 12-15% over nine years – not enough to make a substantial difference for farmers. Most bovine TB cases, it seemed, were the result of cattle infecting each other. Nevertheless, in 2010 the government performed some statistical acrobatics on the RBCT data and declared a cull was necessary.2
It has been fifteen years since the badger cull was introduced. 230,000 badgers have been killed,4 but there has been no noticeable impact on the spread of bovine TB. In fact, there is evidence that the cull has, in some areas, made the disease worse, because when infected badgers flee the culling zone they spread TB into new areas.
The current government has pledged to end the cull and instead is focusing on a cattle vaccination programme. However, TB (both human and bovine) is often a disease of poverty, a symptom of unhealthy living conditions. With dairy farmers receiving very little for the milk they produce, many cannot afford to replace old and overcrowded cowsheds. The cows themselves aren’t helping either. Dairy cows have been relentlessly overbred, often at the expense of immunity. It is a perfect storm for disease, and one which the badger has unwittingly become a part of.
How can we find another way?
By supporting local farmers rearing old, healthier breeds of cattle in low densities, you can reduce the incidence of bovine TB, taking pressure off both farmers and badgers. Collectively, we all need to eat less beef and dairy to help reduce CO2 emissions (beef being the most carbon intensive form of meat), so why not save two birds with one stone and buy smaller amounts of higher quality, badger-friendly beef?
Personally, I think it is bizarre that for fifteen years we have waged war against a native animal. Perhaps it wouldn’t have happened if people knew more about them? After writing this article, I am now determined to see one – and I hope you are too! Like the fictional Mr Badger though, they’re not going to respond to an invitation. I’ll have to seek them out in the heart of Britain’s wild woods.
Article written by Ollie Ray
For more information on how you can help ‘End the cull’ on badgers, visit badgertrust.org.uk
References:
- Kurek, P. et al., (2022). Badger Meles meles as Ecosystem Engineer and Its Legal Status in Europe. Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 12(7), 898. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12070898
- Barkham, P., (2013) Badgerlands, London: Granta Books.
- World Organisation for Animal Health (2025), What is Mammalian Tuberculosis, World Organisation for Animal Health[website], https://www.woah.org/en/disease/mammalian-tuberculosis/
- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Daniel Zeichner MP (2024), Government to end badger cull with a new TB eradication strategy, Gov.UK[website], https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-end-badger-cull-with-new-tb-eradication-strategy
