What / Who would do this?

[mace242]

I have no pictures as my friend didn't have her camera at the time but she recently found a badger head at the side of a field (well her dog did) it hadn't been cleanly removed so I'm ruling out people in this, but what do we have here that'll remove the head from a badger and take it away. The fields are around her house and nobody else walks dogs there so I'm pretty sure it's not a dog. I spent a fair bit of time looking for a badger carcas but only found some hair that had been removed in a fight.

 

[silvergirl]

Why rule out people.

People don't always (in some cases often) do things cleanly.
I've seen animals beheaded by someone who thought it was fun to whack them around till they fell apart.

Not nice

 

[British Red]

Sadly the first thing that comes to mind is a spade following baiting

If so I will refrain from comment due to the family nature of the site and the dubious legal standing of impaling people in the twenty first century

Red

 

[Nagual]

Some people do such things, it's true. Although I am a great believer in Karma, I also firmly believe in 'live by the sword, die by the sword'...

 

[Barney]

Sounds like a spade to me

 

[mace242]

Sadly the first thing that comes to mind is a spade following baiting

If so I will refrain from comment due to the family nature of the site and the dubious legal standing of impaling people in the twenty first century

Red

You know I'd not actually considered that and really should have. The house my friend lives in is just off the fosse way, a pretty busy road, and I suppose somebody could have dumped a dead badger over the hedge after stopping the car.

I'm with you on the impaling thoughts...

 

[Jackdaw]

I would report this to your local constabulary's Wildlife Crime Officer. Even if it will not lead to a conviction in this instance it will help with providing an intelligence model and may push the constabulary to provide extra officers to support the countryside-based officers.

Jackdaw

 

[tenderfoot]

Ah! so near a road eh? could have been beheaded by a glancing impact from a vehicle. then someone threw the body off the road as it was a hazard. I hope so -the alternative baiting scenario though not unlikely is very ugly.

 

[SimonM]

I found a couple of badger corpes on my plot last year, neatly wrapped in bed sheets - I didn't get too close a look because of the smell, but they looked badly knocked about.

I did report it to the authorities but heard nothing...

Simon

 

[Barney]

The imbeciles take the head off with the spade when their dogs(.sic) have bean beaten and the badger still will not let go of one. It is sometimes the only way to get them off. (this is purely anecdotal)

Tenacious little bugger is our Brock, My favorite British mammal. However, often his very qualities that make him appealing conspire against him.

 

[Cobweb]

Yup, badger baiting. It's prevalent around here unfortunately, the countryside wardens are trying to stamp down on it, but the tradition is so ingrained they are waging a war against the tide. it's a shame they're not winning, people around here still believe that badgers spread TB, it's their excuse and reason for the barbarities.

 

[mace242]

Yup, badger baiting. It's prevalent around here unfortunately, the countryside wardens are trying to stamp down on it, but the tradition is so ingrained they are waging a war against the tide. it's a shame they're not winning, people around here still believe that badgers spread TB, it's their excuse and reason for the barbarities.

It's pretty ingrained here too. In fact one of the major local papers won't even print any stories that are anti the "badgers give cattle TB" line.

 

[demographic]

Its either seven legged aliens from outer space or possibly badger baiters, I'll let you work out which sounds more likely...