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Introduction

Of all the human threats to badgers, roads and the traffic they carry are without doubt the greatest. It has been estimated that in Britain, around 50,000 badgers meet their deaths through road traffic accidents (RTAs) every year. Although a large proportion of these casualties are killed outright, many are not. These unfortunate animals may suffer for many minutes or even hours or days before they die, depending on the extent of their injuries.

In addition to the death toll inflicted on badgers by traffic on existing roads, the building of new roads is leading to even more fatalities, and also to a reduction in badger numbers through the destruction of badger setts and foraging grounds.

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RTAs - why they occur

Badgers, like other wild animals, live in a world which is changing too quickly for them to adapt to. Badgers have been around for many thousands of years, while roads populated with large numbers of fast-moving motor vehicles have only been around for decades. In a nutshell, the badger has not had time to develop road sense.

Badgers are creatures of habit, and follow regular paths through the fields, woods and meadows as they travel between their setts and their foraging grounds. When roads are built across their pathways, the badgers keep on using them. When a badger crosses a road and a motor vehicle approaches, the badger may ignore it and continue crossing, or panic and run (not necessarily in the right direction), or in fright it might freeze, and stand facing the approaching vehicle. The end result is almost always the same - another RTA victim.

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RTAs - numbers in Britain

Dr Chris Cheeseman, who has carried out detailed research on badgers in Gloucestershire for the Ministry of Agriculture, has shown that about 25% of the adult badger population dies every year in his study area, and that approximately 50% of those deaths are caused by RTAs. Therefore about 12.5% (one eighth) of the adult badger population in Chris Cheeseman's study area is killed by road traffic annually. If we apply these findings to the national badger population, which current estimates place at 310,000, we arrive at an annual total of 38,750 adult badger RTAs, plus an unknown number of cub RTAs.

A paper by Dr Stephen Harris and others in 1992, when the national badger population was believed to be 250,000, suggested that 50,000 were being killed on the roads each year. This figure represented 20% (one fifth) of the population at that time. If this is acepted, the implications are that nationally, the annual roadkill figure could now be around 62,000.

Many Badger Groups reported large rises in the numbers of road casualties reported to them from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s. There are several possible explanations for this. The first is that the number of people reporting RTAs increased. This may be true to some extent, but I do not believe that this accounts for more than a small part of the dramatic rise in the number of reports.

Another explanation is that the badger population increased significantly during the period in question. The second National Badger Survey, sompleted in the mid 1990s, certainly indicated a large increase in badger numbers. Although the actual figures are disputed by some badger experts, there is little doubt that there was an increase in the badger population in Britain between the mid 1980s and mid 1990s. This would certainly account for part of the increase in the number of RTAs.

A third explanation is that the volume of traffic on our roads increased considerably during the period concerned. This is certainly true, and is likely to account for a large part of the increased number of RTAs reported to the Badger Groups. As well as a rise in the number of cars on our roads, there has also been an increase in the number of lorries as more and more goods are transported by road. In my own county, Northamptonshire, and in many other counties too, there has been considerable growth in the number of warehouses and distribution companies. Many of these operate on a 24-hour basis, which means more lorries on the roads at night when badgers are about.

It is worrying to note that all predictions of future traffic volumes indicate a continuing rise in the number of motor vehicles using our roads. I see no reason to doubt these predictions, and I must therefore make two predictions of my own - that the number of badger RTAs will continue to rise too, and that unless we take action, the badger population in some parts of Britain may actually begin to decline as a direct result.

Picture © Steve Jackson.

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Additional 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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