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Conservation

Badgers are hunted in most states in the USA and Canada. The number of badgers taken is not as high as other species, but the total is still considerable. In North Dakota for example, in the years from 1991 to 1994, 1,000 badgers were taken on average each year. This compares with 12,000 fox, 10,000 coyotes, 6,000 racoons, 2,000 muskrats, and 1,600 beavers. Mink, skunk, jackrabbit, bobcat and weasel were also taken, but in smaller numbers. The number of badgers taken in a year is largely dependant on the prices being paid for their pelts at that time. When prices are high, the number of badgers taken is above average. [w062-02]

Purely from a conservation point of view, the hunting of badgers in North America does not threaten the species, although it has contributed to a decline in the animal's numbers in some parts of its range. However, I have serious concerns over the welfare aspects of trapping.

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Welfare

Many badgers are caught in leghold traps. A badger so caught is held alive in the trap until the trapper returns. This may take some time. According to PETA:

"State regulations on how often trappers must check their traps vary from 24 hours to one week, and four states have no regulations at all" [w061].

In the meantime, the animal will be in considerable distress. To quote from PETA's website again:

"When an animal steps on the leghold trap spring, the trap's jaws slam on the animal's limb. Dr. Robert E. Cape explains that 'if the trap is properly anchored, the captured animal will struggle to get loose, mutilating the foot and causing deep, painful lacerations. Or the animal will attempt escape by chewing or twisting off the trapped extremity. Ten to 12 hours after being captured, the animal is still in pain.' After a prolonged time, he explains, trapped animals 'will suffer from exhaustion, since they expend such a great amount of energy in attempting to escape. With exhaustion, the animal suffers from exposure, frostbite, shock, and eventually death'" [w061].

It should of course be noted that the comments above relate to trapped animals generally, and not to badgers specifically.

Further problems arise if guidelines such as those issued by the North Dakota Furtakers are not followed. If a trap is not properly secured, the badger will pull it from the ground and will then be able to move away while still caught in the trap. If the trap is set too close the den entrance, the badger will go down into its burrow as far as it can, and will then suffer the additional distress of the struggle that will result from the trapper's efforts to remove the animal from the hole.

Then comes death. This may be brought about swiftly by a bullet in the head, but PETA points out that most state laws do not regulate the methods of slaughter for animals found alive in traps [w061].

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Picture credits

The American badger photo used at the head of this Article is a public domain image provided by the US Fish & Wildlife Service; photographer Gary Stolz. Credits for the photos used in the right-hand margin of this page for site navigation can be found on the Credits page.

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