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Introduction

Badger digging and badger baiting are often spoken of together, almost as if they are one and the same thing. Certainly, badger baiting often follows on from badger digging, as digging is the method by which many badgers in Britain are taken for baiting. While the baiting of badgers is, in my opinion at least, the cruellest form of badger persecution, badger digging too involves tremendous suffering.

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About badger digging

The process of badger digging was described by Phil Drabble in his 1969 book, Badgers at my Window [b024]; the following paragraph is based upon that description.

The dig begins with the entry of a terrier into a badger sett. The terrier searches the maze of tunnels and chambers until he finds a badger. If the dog has been trained properly, it will not attack the badger at this point, but will keep a few feet away from it and bark. Speedy movement in the opposite direction is in order if the badger decides to charge; short-legged terriers have of course been bred to move easily through tunnels and will usually keep clear of their attacker. If they do not, severe injuries may well be inflicted. The terrier continues to mark the badger's location through its barking while the men above dig towards it, following the sound. As the diggers near their quarry, the badger too may start to dig, in a bid to escape. If the sett is in a sandy or similar soil, the badger may well be able to dig faster than those who pursue it. The terrier must therefore now attack, in order to force the badger to stop digging and turn in self defence. Finally, the diggers reach the spot where the terrier is holding the badger at bay. The terrier is grabbed and pulled out, leaving the badger to meet its unpleasant fate.

Badger digging today is carried out in much the same way as it has always been. As I have just related, traditionally the diggers followed the sound of the dog's barking and dug along the badger tunnels to reach their quarry; I have seen evidence that this method is still employed at a number of setts in Northamptonshire. At most of the setts where I have observed such evidence, the tunnels have generally only been dug back for a length of around 2 metres.

Nowadays however, many diggers make use of modern technology and attach a radio transmitter (or "ferret finder") to the dog before sending it below ground. Then all they have to do is use a radio receiver or locater to determine the precise location of the dog below them, and dig a shaft straight down to the tunnel or chamber in which the terrier and badger are facing each other. I have found such shafts dug into a number of setts in Northamptonshire. In my experience these shafts are typically circular in shape and one to two feet in diameter; often they only go down for a matter of two or three feet before they enter a badger tunnel. Some have gone down to four or five feet deep though. These deeper shafts tend to be wider and squarer in shape, measuring around three to four feet in length and two to three feet in breadth, presumably because the digger has to get into the hole as it gets deeper. Elsewhere, such shafts have been found to go down to depths of more than 5.5 metres [b025].

Once the diggers reach the badger, it is removed from the sett. In the past, purpose-made badger tongs would be used for this purpose, but these are rarely used in Britain today and most diggers lift their quarry out of the sett by its tail. Knowing that there is always the risk that they will be caught, diggers do not carry tongs as these would be obvious evidence that they had set out to dig for badgers. In any case, using badger tongs is an offence in itself. In fact, knowing that they may be caught, badger diggers very often take items that will act as evidence that they are after foxes or rabbits rather than badgers, to cover themselves should they be apprehended. Such items include fox or rabbit nets, and dead foxes or rabbits. Sometimes diggers take a dead fox or rabbit which has been kept in the deep freeze especially for this purpose.

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Picture credits

The Eurasian badger photo used at the head of this Article is © Steve Jackson. 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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