Badgers! Grumble About The Council

[barry1010]

Some of my neighbours have had their gardens ravaged by badgers since new houses were built on a nearby paddock.  No help from the council because badgers are protected.  We have all replaced or reinforced our fences at great expense to keep the badgers out of the gardens and in the woods at the back.

Artificial setts are being constructed in the graveyard of a church not far away - so the badgers can be relocated from part of my local park that the council sold to Aldi. I don't know how they managed it because the parkland was donated to the council over a century ago to be enjoyed by the residents.

It won't be long before graves are disturbed and headstones toppled by badger activity.  It's already happening in the huge cemetery on the other side of the woods.

It annoys me that the council will allow setts to be disturbed for profit but not for residents. 

Just a grumble. We enjoy watching the badgers but miss the hedgehogs - they've eaten them all 🤬

 

 

[The Builder]

Building subsidence can be real problem Barry. Domestic foundations are generally around 1-1.2 metres deep. Badgers can burrow 3 or 4 metres down, but they usually go for the easy digging in soft ground. Buildings are on load-bearing ground, so badgers tend to leave them alone because of the harder ground.

A great problem for older buildings though.  Ancient cob & thatch houses can often have shallow footings: maybe only a foot or so in depth. I'd like to see a council agonise between a protected badger sett and a listed 500 year old building. 

Anyway, you can get a licence from DEFRA  to deal with them in special circumstances such as structural problems.

Widely despised in country areas Barry...........  and they're not even remotely 'cuddly'.  🤔

[barry1010]

An old house in another town 15 miles from me practically collapsed because of badger activity but the damage to gardens is bad enough.   Finding the hedgehog leftovers was horrible.  

[douglas9401]

There's a price for everything.