Sunday evening. 10Pm. A cool breeze sweeps the land. The winds are cold and the ground is frozen. A young badger digs the ground and looks for food. The frozen ground does not yield and makes it hard for the badger to dig. She looks out and decides to go for a walk in search for food. The badger stretches its neck to peck... and Thud!! The front tyre of the car hits the badger. A split second later the rear tyre runs over the badger!
This my dear friends was my first experience of running over an animal. I went back home and despite being a non-religious person, I said my prayers for the animal. As a deep sympathizer of animals and their lives, I was deeply affected by the incident. The scene of the badger crossing the road kept coming back to me and I had trouble going to sleep. So, I went back home and looked up about the lives of badgers.
A family or a sett of badgers as it called can comprise up to 13 individuals. Badgers are very territorial and are creatures of habit. They are clean animals, clearing out their home daily, and even make their own toilets at a distance from the living quarters. Sometimes they have separate Winter and summer quarters. During the Winter they can spend days at a time underground, sleeping. Badgers in the wild are rarely seen during the day. Badgers are rarely seen during the day, but go out for food at night. Their favorite foods are earthworms, insects, roots, fruits and berries.
Unfortunately the only sighting that many people have of badgers is by seeing a road casualty. Badgers have no natural predators in the UK since bears and wolves became extinct from our islands. However, badgers do face many threats and all of them from Man.
Badgers can live for up to 14 years, but are likely to die or be killed before they reach this age. Road traffic kills around 50,000 each year, and although this is a terrible toll, populations in many areas remain high. Intensive agriculture and urbanization have more serious effects. But, badgers are not the only victims. Altogether, with estimates of 75,000 foxes and 40,000 deer, some 165,000 animals are killed by motorists each year. Conservationists claim badgers and other animals seen dead by the roadside are just the tip of the iceberg, with as many dragging themselves away to die.
I am certain that nobody really wants to drive animals to their graves. So, there are three points I'd like to make with this post today:
1> Defensive driving techniques, such as driving slowly, honking your horn at animals who look as if they are about to enter the roadway, or flashing your high beams at animals to break the sometimes hypnotic effect of the glare of the headlights can help.
2> Hitting a badger at high speed can cause the driver of a vehicle to lose control, potentially resulting in a serious traffic accident. Drive slowly.
Driving at night is certainly something I will try and avoid. Especially driving on country roads at night.
3> Report to Scottish Badgers - There are several animal welfare agencies that attend to roadside accidents. Doesn't matter where you are, look up online and give these guys a call. Who knows, somebody may be around to save a precious life.
Take care and do your bit.
This my dear friends was my first experience of running over an animal. I went back home and despite being a non-religious person, I said my prayers for the animal. As a deep sympathizer of animals and their lives, I was deeply affected by the incident. The scene of the badger crossing the road kept coming back to me and I had trouble going to sleep. So, I went back home and looked up about the lives of badgers.
A family or a sett of badgers as it called can comprise up to 13 individuals. Badgers are very territorial and are creatures of habit. They are clean animals, clearing out their home daily, and even make their own toilets at a distance from the living quarters. Sometimes they have separate Winter and summer quarters. During the Winter they can spend days at a time underground, sleeping. Badgers in the wild are rarely seen during the day. Badgers are rarely seen during the day, but go out for food at night. Their favorite foods are earthworms, insects, roots, fruits and berries.
Unfortunately the only sighting that many people have of badgers is by seeing a road casualty. Badgers have no natural predators in the UK since bears and wolves became extinct from our islands. However, badgers do face many threats and all of them from Man.
Badgers can live for up to 14 years, but are likely to die or be killed before they reach this age. Road traffic kills around 50,000 each year, and although this is a terrible toll, populations in many areas remain high. Intensive agriculture and urbanization have more serious effects. But, badgers are not the only victims. Altogether, with estimates of 75,000 foxes and 40,000 deer, some 165,000 animals are killed by motorists each year. Conservationists claim badgers and other animals seen dead by the roadside are just the tip of the iceberg, with as many dragging themselves away to die.
I am certain that nobody really wants to drive animals to their graves. So, there are three points I'd like to make with this post today:
1> Defensive driving techniques, such as driving slowly, honking your horn at animals who look as if they are about to enter the roadway, or flashing your high beams at animals to break the sometimes hypnotic effect of the glare of the headlights can help.
2> Hitting a badger at high speed can cause the driver of a vehicle to lose control, potentially resulting in a serious traffic accident. Drive slowly.
Driving at night is certainly something I will try and avoid. Especially driving on country roads at night.
3> Report to Scottish Badgers - There are several animal welfare agencies that attend to roadside accidents. Doesn't matter where you are, look up online and give these guys a call. Who knows, somebody may be around to save a precious life.
Take care and do your bit.
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