Badgers are an iconic animal in the British countryside and the European badger (Meles meles), is one of Britain's best known mammals. Badgers are nocturnal and their acute sense of smell and hearing means they may not emerge at dusk if humans are near their sett. Badgers can be reliably surveyed by recording field signs such as setts, hair, footprints, paths, feeding areas and latrines (dung pits).

Badgers are legally protected under The Protection of Badgers Act 1992, which brought together previous legislation on badgers to give them full, year-round protection. It is the only British mammal to have legislation specifically covering its protection. It is illegal to kill, injure or capture a badger deliberately or to disturb, damage or interfere with a badger sett. This may also include indirect activities that affect badgers such as changes or loss of feeding habitat. Badger numbers across Britain are estimated to have doubled in the last 10 years and as a result they are increasingly becoming an issue for landowners and developers.

Bovine TB

There is much controversy around badgers and the spread of Bovine TB at the moment, with many groups and individual calling for a cull of badgers to stop the spread of this disease in cattle. The Wildlife Trusts believe that culling badgers is not the answer to this problem and instead advocate cattle control measures:

• more frequent cattle testing, with more frequent and targeted combined use of the tuberculin skin test and the gamma interferon test
• the evaluation of post-movement cattle testing
• greater communication with farmers on the benefits of bio-security measures
• the deployment of badger and cattle vaccines, when they become available
• continued work on the epidemiology of the disease.

To find out more about the debate click here

For anyone interested in finding out more about badgers, or indeed any of the wonderful mammals that live in the Cumbrian countryside, please contact Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s Mammal group.

Mammal Group 

The Mammal Group was founded in 1992 and is currently sits within Cumbria Wildlife Trust. It meets regularly at one of the Wildlfe trusts offices around Cumbria.  We aim to protect the mammals of Cumbria by promoting conservation and recording. New members are always welcome and so If you are interested in anything to do with mammals, and getting involved please contact us on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Aims

• Raise awareness and understanding of mammals in Cumbria and their threats
• Encourage recording and the study of mammals
• Provide training to identify and survey mammals
• Promote conservation of mammals and their habitats
• Bring together like-minded people to share interests and skills

Cumbria Wildlife Trust keep records of badger kills on roads. If you see a dead badger please click here to complete a form so we can add it to our records.

For more information on badgers visit the Badger Trust website.

For more information on mammals visit the Mammal Society website.