Badger problem
thumbstruck
Posts: 1
My brother has a large badger sett in his garden and for the last year him and the local residents have been in talks to try and get them moved.
He has mounds of earth about three feet high from where they have excavated and at least four entrances to the tunnels.
Last month while my brother was weeding (reaching over the flower bed). The ground gave way and he was pitched face down into the hole, he reckoned he went about two feet down. This resulted with him jarring his back and was unable to do anything for at least a week.
Who is responsible for any injuries incurred while waiting for something to be done?
This week he was informed that where the badgers were going to be moved to has fallen through and as their is nowhere else within a certain distance they are not able to move them.
While some areas still have the badger cull in operation it seems strange that nothing can be done.
Posts
Sorry but I don't see that any organisation / authority can be held responsible for an accident suffered by your brother in his own garden. He could try contacting one of the 'No win, no fee' solicitors but I suspect even they wouldn't take it on.
Badgers are a protected species, so he's probably just going to have to get used to them destroying the garden.
Your brother is responsible for injuries sustained on his own property no matter that he may have asked for the badgers to be removed. It is common sense to expect the ground to be unstable around a sett. The badger cull has nothing to do with creatures in a domestic setting as it is designed to remove badgers in a rural environment where they may pass on TB to cattle.
Your brother is responsible for himself. It's a shame he doesn't also feel a responsibility towards nature having been blessed with enough land to accommodate badgers.
You can apply for a licence to "Move On" badgers in your garden and there is a very specific and successful way to do it without harm under that licence.
You literally place "Large" one way cat flaps over all entrance holes so that they can leave the set but once outside they cannot get back in.
They then go away elsewhere.
You might have to cover the ground with something to prevent them from digging new holes nearby!
Badgers are protected so anybody who offers to 'move them on' is suggesting an illegal act. Be very careful who does it because some vile people want to obtain badgers for badger-baiting or training fighting dogs.
It is possible to obtain a licence to move them, but difficult.
Badgers are protected yes of course. My post wasn't about anybody offering to "Move them on".
Successfully Appling for a licence to "Move them On" is not illegal. You have applied for a licence and you are bound by the conditions within that licence to do what is described within it. The license allows you to do things what would normally be illegal without it.
It is a long winded process and i can imagine its not cheap either but if you have a building(s) being undermined, falling down or if a set is dangerous to human life etc etc etc etc they can be "Moved On" quite legally. The license will outline how, when and what you must do and not do and so on.
It may allow an appointed person to actually trap and move them on or it may allow you to fit oversize one way cat flaps.
The important thing is to apply for the license, the authorities will decide what you can and can't do and the license can allow you to do things that would normally be illegal.
It's possible to apply for licenses to do all sorts of things that are normally illegal, applying doesn't guarantee that you'll be successful gaining a license to do whatever it is your wanting to do.
Not watched this ITV program but I believe that it contains a story about a pair of neighbours who had a badger problem, they apply for a license to "Have them Moved On" and were successful.
http://www.itv.com/hub/garden-nightmares/2a4083a0001