by
wildliferescue
@ Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007 - 21:37:18
Some of you may know that when approached, badgers can be very aggressive, and as such, I thought it'd be beneficial to post some advice to help you should you come across an injured badger. Of course, the best advice I can give is to check the Badger Trust website for your local group and make a note of the number - badgers should not be approached unless you have had appropriate training!!
Advice taken from the Badger Trust website. If you require further information, please do not hesitate to ask!
What to Do in An Emergency
Note: Approach every badger with extreme care - even one which is apparently comatose may move suddenly! If the badger appears unconscious, use a stout stick and carefully prod the sensitive areas near the eyes and mouth, to check that it really is unconscious. Stay out of reach of its teeth or claws and remember that badgers may inflict severe bites! Keep stout stick between you and the badgers mouth, so it can bite the stick before it can bite you. NEVER pick up a badger by the tail. If the badger struggles, it will be able to bite or scratch you anyway; and you may end up dislocating its tail too.
Safety First
If you see a badger in a road or rail traffic accident, find a safe place to stop; and use hazard indicators and a warning triangle to warn other motorists.
You can't help an injured animal if you get injured too!
Quickly assess the location of the casualty; and whether it would be practicable to attempt a rescue
Avoid rescuing an injured animal from motorways, fast-moving trunk roads, or electrified (third-rail or overhead) or high-speed railways. An express train or a speeding car may travel more than 50 metres in 1 second!
Take account of potential hazards and escape routes when planning capture, e.g. cliffs, roads, rivers, streams, drains, ponds, lakes and reservoirs, rough terrain etc.
Safe handling of adult badgers requires experience. Inexperienced people should seek appropriate expert advice and assistance. It is not a failure on your part if you need expert advice.
Beware of an injured badger
An injured animal will be frightened, and can be very dangerous; an apparently comatose badger can suddenly return to consciousness and become very aggressive. Make sure small children or infirm adults are in a safe location (such as inside a car). Try to avoid having too many people approach the badger at once. You' are better with one or two quiet, calm people than half-a-dozen noisy helpers.
As well as trying to help the badger, you should also be trying to handle the badger as little as possible (as handling causes the badger stress).
Approach the badger quietly and very slowly
Find a long stout stick (such as a walking stick or a dog grasper) and slowly approach the badger. If it becomes aggressive, let it attack the stick before it can attack your legs or hands. Young cubs may be less aggressive than adults!
Quickly assess the badger, but do not touch it
Look at the nature of its injuries (see if you can see any broken legs, head injuries, new injuries or marks to the body and whether it may be bleeding), and try and assess its mobility. If the badger appears unconscious, prod gently with a stick, carefully stimulating around the sensitive areas of the eyes and mouth, to check that it is really unconscious before approaching within reach of its teeth.
Be aware that badgers, like many other wild animals, can carry infectious diseases (such as tuberculosis). If you, or any of your rescue party, have a suppressed immune-system, stay well clear of the badger and any body fluids, or airways. Call for expert help if you need it.
Cover the badger to try to calm it down
Use an an old blanket or coat, then cover it again with a dustbin or a strong box with a heavy weight on it (like an adult person). If you have a four-wheel drive vehicle, then think about using a solid spare-wheel cover instead of a blanket.
Make a note of the precise location
Look for any identifying signs, then look for signposts or mileposts, or distinguishing landscape features; bends, bridges, tunnels, house names and numbers, street names and so on. If you are struggling, then tie a bright-coloured piece of cloth to a fence, wall or roadside tree. Think about using a digital or a film camera to record the location and the view, so it can be identified later.
This is important as when the animal is re-released, it will need to be placed at the exact spot where it was found so it can find its way back into the correct sett with its own family and any cubs.
Telephone the RSPCA or Police
The Police may need to be involved if the badger is on a busy road or motorway; and their response centre should have the details of the local RSPCA rescue people or the nearest Badger Group that runs a rescue service.
If it is safe to do so, then try and wait with the injured badger. This will help the rescuers to find the casualty; and you will be there to point out where it came from before the accident. In the not too uncommon event that it limps off before it can be treated, you will be able to point out where it limped off to. This will help the rescuers deal with any young or dependent cubs.
Between January & October
It is especially important to contact someone urgently in these months, as any injured animal may well be looking after badger cubs, which may remain unfed if an adult badger has been killed. All badger groups should be able to rescue any orphaned cubs and either foster them or re-home them for subsequent re-release when they can fend for themselves.
Putting the badger in your vehicle
This may be tempting if you are absolutely certain you can get the badger to a vets quickly in a safe manner.
Ideally, you would want to transport the injured animal in a proper animal rescue cage, although a strong dustbin with a secured non-airtight lid might do in an emergency. Another option might be to put a badger in a properly secure boot-space, if you have an agreed destination for the animal. Avoid putting a badger in an open area (like on a back seat or a foot well), and be aware that a badger might be able to bash its way through a conventional parcel shelf if it wanted to.
Picking the badger up
Be aware that the badger may be bleeding (internally or externally), and it may urinate or defecate at any time; so you need to have a strong water-proof tarpaulin or plastic sheet under the badger.
Using a couple of stout sticks (or a dog grasper if you have one), try and slide a comatose badger onto a large plastic sheet, and then gently move the badger by securely picking up the sheet by all four corners.
If you can't slide the badger using sticks and you don't have a dog grasper, then you may decide to take a much higher risk and pick up the badger with your hands. Generally, we would say to use thin water-proof gloves (to protect yourself from body fluids). Thick gloves don't really protect you very much from being bitten or clawed, and can make an animal much more difficult to handle. With extreme care, try and pick up the badger by the loose skin at the scruff of the neck and the skin near the rump (but not the tail). As gently as you can, position the badger on the plastic sheet, and put it into a secure place (like a secure boot or a bin as described before). If you have come into contact with any body fluids, follow strict anti-bacterial methods to wash your hands as soon as you possibly can. Do the same with the rescue vehicle too.
Caring for the badger yourself
If you are a member of a badger group or a recognised badger expert, this might be a possibility. Otherwise, it is a very bad idea, as you would not know how to treat it, what to feed it on and, importantly, how to get it re-habilitated so it can be returned to its family.
A Badger Group
Also be aware that most badger groups are 100% aware of the needs of badgers and will be well versed in providing high-quality treatment with proper rehabilitation. One notably good badger-rescue centre is run by Pauline Kidner in Somerset called Secret World. The centre has had very many successes over a number of years.
Non-expert Rescuers
Other animal rescue establishments may be very good at re-homing cats or dogs or ferrets or whatever other animal, but badgers are a specialist case.
In our view, a small number of amateur animal rescue establishments do more harm than good when it comes to badgers.
If you are not using a badger group, try and make sure the animal rescue centre has good recent knowledge of badgers and their needs and can provide tangible benefits for the badger. Know-nothing do-gooders should be avoided at all costs!
Dog Graspers
Traditionally a dog grasper is a pole with a noose on the end which can be tightened. This allows the handler to control the animal whilst maintaining a distance. The noose is slipped over the animal's head, and pulled to be as tight as a typical dog lead.
The long pole then means the animal can be held a "safe" distance away from the handler, which can make it easier to get the animal into a transport cage, box or dustbin.
With any form of noose, you need to take great care that the noose does not become too tight, otherwise the animal will choke. You also need to make sure that the animal does not cause itself spinal damage by "spinning" round repeatedly on the end of the pole. To mitigate risks to the animal, you should try and keep the noose in place for the minimum amount of time needed in order to achieve a safe capture of the animal.
If you have a dog-grasper, use it on a badger as follows:
Manoeuvre a dog-grasper around the neck before any other handling.
Place the noose just behind the ears to minimise the chance of its becoming dislodged.
Offer a stout stick for the badger to bite once the dog grasper is in place to distract the badger from biting the handler.
Grasp the loose skin over the rump and lift by this (and the grasper) into a carrying cage or dustbin, taking care that most of the badger's weight is supported from the rump not the dog grasper.
The best way to use a dog-grasper is to have been trained in its use!
Darting
So far as a badger is concerned, the rescue process is highly stressful; and it probably views it as a continuation of the "attack" by the vehicle which caused it pain and injury. Extended rescue scenarios can cause so much stress in some animals that it affects their health permanently or even results in sudden or unforeseen death.
If it looks like the rescue attempt may be very difficult, consideration ought to be made to dart the animal with a sedative. This is permitted only by duly authorised people who have the correct firearms licence. However, in the right circumstances it can reduce the amount of stress suffered by the casualty, with a much reduce likelihood of stress injuries.
Darting in itself is a dangerous business and experts need to consider the size of needle, volume and viscosity of the fluid and the amount of power used to project the dart. This needs to be appropriate to the size of the muscle mass and thickness of the skin. Obviously, the use of inappropriate equipment and materials can cause serious damage to the animal.
If you are bitten or scratched
Clean out the wound with soap/detergent as soon as possible (i.e. in the car before you take the badger to the vets).
Apply anti-septic as soon as possible thereafter (i.e. on arrival at the vets).
ALWAYS SEEK PROFESSIONAL DEEP CLEANING OF THE WOUND FROM A HOSPITAL CASUALTY DEPARTMENT (i.e. as soon as you have left the vets)
Seek professional medical advice for any wound which breaks or scratches the skin; or any serious bruising injury. Be very clear to mention to the doctor that the wound was the result of contact with a badger. He should be made aware of the possibility of infection (either by viral, bacterial, fungal or parasitic) and may well recommend a program of antibiotic treatment. This is especially important in cases in south-west England, where up to 30% of badgers may be infected with TB. When handling badgers, your own BCG vaccination program should, of course, be fully up-to-date.
What does the law say?
As regards the Law, killing or injuring a badger in a road traffic accident is not in itself an offence (unless there was a deliberate intent to injure it).
Likewise, you are allowed to take all humane steps needed to isolate an injured badger, call for help, take it to the vets or the animal rescue centre.
However, possessing a badger (dead or alive) is an offence, so you should not go beyond taking it directly to a vet or an approved animal rescue centre. Rescuing one, and then trying to keep it as a long-term "exotic" pet would be an offence.
Badger Facts:
Eurasian badger
Meles meles
Life span
Up to 14 years.
Statistics
Head and body length: 65-80cm, Weight: 8-12kg.
Physical Description
Eurasian badgers are easily recognisable by the conspicuous black and white stripes running from the nose to the shoulders. They are stocky animals with short black legs and silvery grey backs.
Distribution
Badgers range from Europe to Japan and S. China. In Britain, badgers are most abundant in south west England, Wales and small areas of north east England.
Habitat
They generally prefer forest and grassland.
Diet
Badgers feed on earthworms, frogs, rodents, birds, eggs, lizards, insects, bulbs, seeds and berries.
Behaviour
Eurasian badgers are nocturnal and emerge from their setts at dusk. They live in family groups, or clans, of up to 12 individuals, which occupy a shared territory of 125-375 acres. The boundaries of the territories are marked out with odour and defended.
Badgers inhabit underground burrows called setts which consist of several chambers, passages and entrances and are used by successive generations of badgers. Nesting material is often carried out of the sett in the day and aired in the sunshine.
They are gregarious and will indulge in playful romping, which helps to strengthen their social bonds.
Reproduction
Badgers exhibit a breeding phenomena known as delayed implantation, which means that they can breed at any time of the year. The purpose is to ensure that young are produced at a time when temperature and food conditions are at their optimum. After mating, they keep the fertilised eggs in the uterus in a state of suspended development until they are implanted in the uterine wall, usually after 10 months. After a further gestation period of 7-8 weeks, they give birth to a litter of 1-6 cubs.
Conservation status
Badgers are not considered endangered but numbers have been depleted. They are protected under various wildlife acts and UK law states that it is an offence to kill, injure or capture a badger, or to interfere with its sett.
It is estimated that 50,000 badgers meet their deaths in Britain through road traffic accidents every year. Badgers are hunted legally and illegally in many of the countries they inhabit.
; it is my intention to organise a charity rock gig for 2008 (May-ish) to get some much-needed money to get the essentials just before I finish my course and launch the service. Of course there will be other fundraising schemes but this will hopefully be the big one! So exciting!!! 
