References in periodicals archive
The stress of overcrowding, the fighting for food and mates, plus the underground setts in which TB bacteria may well have been present for decades are undoubtedly factors, as is the immunological response required to resist TB infection, which badgers (and the camelids, interestingly) do not possess.
Dominic Dyer, CEO of the Badger Trust, said: "Badger vaccination is a scientifically proven means of lowering the risk of TB infection in disease free badgers and their newborn cubs, by around 70%.
If there is anything out of the ordinary, like a suspicious noise or smell, the badger may remain underground all night.
Yes, badgers do eat hedgehogs if they come across them, but in the 45 years I have wandered around the countryside, the amount of hedgehogs I have found that have probably been killed by badgers could be counted on one hand.
The badger is then pulled from the sett and usually thrown to the dogs who kill it.
The average lifespan of an American badger is 9 to 10 years in the wild.
And you can see them tuck in on a Badger Trust night-time event.
It seems this Government will not be satisfied until it has completely eradicated the badger from the countryside.
They are certain a programme of vaccination would be a much better solution than culling and would result in a more stable and disease free badger population and significantly less bovine TB in cattle.
Marc Wyn Morris, 26, of Jones Street, Blaenau Ffestiniog, has pleaded guilty to wilfully injuring a badger, being present at an animal fight and causing unnecessary suffering to a badger by causing it to fight with a dog.
During the randomised badger culling trials, 86 per cent of the animals killed were found not to be infected.
"In the first place, they might like to come along to a Scottish Badger Week event.
The American badger (Taxidea taxus) is a generally solitary animal, usually hunting without the assistance of other badgers or other species (Long, 1973).
Despite these losses, American badger (Taxidea taxus) range expansions likely have been suggested in Indiana (Lyon, 1932; Berkley and Johnson, 1998), Ohio (Moseley, 1934; Leedy, 1947; Nugent and Choate, 1970), and Illinois (Gremillion-Smith 1985; Ver Steeg and Warner, 2000) and primarily attributed to deforestation for agriculture.