# Dead Badgers found whilst cycling



## Gravity Aided (31 Mar 2019)

Globalti said:


> I enjoy solo rides as there's no pressure to keep blasting along. Out for a shortie yesterday while still suffering a frozen shoulder I had a revealing chat with the cafe owner, stopped to examine a dead badger and stopped again to banter with four E bike riders eating their lunches. Couldn't do that riding with friends.


Funny, last fall I examined a dead badger as well. I was not aware badgers lived in my area. But they do.


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## Gravity Aided (31 Mar 2019)

https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/conservation/wildlife/Pages/Badger.aspx


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## mudsticks (31 Mar 2019)

Globalti said:


> I enjoy solo rides as there's no pressure to keep blasting along. Out for a shortie yesterday while still suffering a frozen shoulder I had a revealing chat with the cafe owner, stopped to examine a dead badger and stopped again to banter with four E bike riders eating their lunches. Couldn't do that riding with friends.





Gravity Aided said:


> Funny, last fall I examined a dead badger as well. I was not aware badgers lived in my area. But they do.



Poor OP this has turned into 'dead badger' chat. 

See loads round here, you can often smell em before you see em.

++++++1 for solo cycling, the freedom to go at your own pace, non competitive, stop and chat (or not) to strangers, .
I'm sure group riding has its charms, but the groups round our way are a noisy lot, always shouting to each other. about something or other.

The wildlife (apart from the dead stuff) long gone, before they arrive.


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## Dogtrousers (2 Apr 2019)

mudsticks said:


> Poor OP this has turned into 'dead badger' chat..


Last year or maybe year before I found a DB slap in the middle of a narrow lane at about 6:30-7:00am. Can't have been there long because it wasn't squashed and vehicles couldn't get round it. I stopped, and shoved it to the side of the road with my foot. As I was doing this I had a Poirot moment - _it wasn't freshly dead_. It was quite horrible and mouldy. It must have been dumped there by a farmer.


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## mudsticks (2 Apr 2019)

Dogtrousers said:


> Last year or maybe year before I found a DB slap in the middle of a narrow lane at about 6:30-7:00am. Can't have been there long because it wasn't squashed and vehicles couldn't get round it. I stopped, and shoved it to the side of the road with my foot. As I was doing this I had a Poirot moment - _it wasn't freshly dead_. It was quite horrible and mouldy. It must have been dumped there by a farmer.



Hear this 'clandestine dumping' of badgers on the road by farmers thing quite often.

But think about it, why would we do that, when we have acres of space to do it privately, if we were so minded.

Especially after having'stored' them for a while to go mouldy?? 
It's most likely been unearthed from the hedge by a fox or another badger, having once been hit by a car, then crawled into hedge to die. 

I do have to use electric fences to keep badgets off my crops.. Principally broadbeans and sweetcorn,

But I don't kill them..


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## Heltor Chasca (2 Apr 2019)

Dogtrousers said:


> Last year or maybe year before I found a DB slap in the middle of a narrow lane at about 6:30-7:00am. Can't have been there long because it wasn't squashed and vehicles couldn't get round it. I stopped, and shoved it to the side of the road with my foot. As I was doing this I had a Poirot moment - _it wasn't freshly dead_. It was quite horrible and mouldy. It must have been dumped there by a farmer.



Returning in the dark and rain from a 250km Audax, I came across a badger that had just been hit. Big boar still in his final death throes. It was unpleasant. I’m getting more sensitive with age. Further up the road was a car driven by teenagers who were inspecting the damage. Driving too fast at a guess. Lots of badgers round here.


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## Pale Rider (2 Apr 2019)

Dead animals found while cycling might get more responses.

There are some minor roads around my caravan in the Yorkshire Dales which have many squashed carcasses on them.

Rabbits and game birds (reared on a shooting estate nearby) are the most common victims.


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## Siclo (2 Apr 2019)

Dogtrousers said:


> Last year or maybe year before I found a DB slap in the middle of a narrow lane at about 6:30-7:00am. Can't have been there long because it wasn't squashed and vehicles couldn't get round it. I stopped, and shoved it to the side of the road with my foot. As I was doing this I had a Poirot moment - _it wasn't freshly dead_. It was quite horrible and mouldy. *It must have been dumped there by a farmer*.



My bold - it's very common.

I used to work at the same Defra site that did the initial trial for the badger culling. One of the jobs that the badger team had was to go out and collect 'roadkill' badgers for post-mortem, I can't remember the exact numbers but far and away the vast majority had either been shot or poisoned and dumped in the road to try and hide the cause of death.


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## Gravity Aided (2 Apr 2019)

The State of Illinois moved some turkey vultures from Southern Illinois to these parts to clean up the roads. They seem to do a good job, still see the carcass truck, just not so often. Gigantic birds, the turkey vulture. Six foot wingspan. Ugly birds, beautiful flyers. Some live at the insurance company, which I suppose they see as cliff-like. Birds that size probably make short work of a badger.


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## areyouactuallymoving (2 Apr 2019)

Do your bit for science and record the road kill to Project Splatter https://projectsplatter.co.uk/what-does-project-splatter-do/collect/

"We are a team of reseachers based at Cardiff University. With help from the public, we collects data on animals killed by motor vehicles on roads in the UK. We analyse the submitted roadkill observations to determine the impact of roads on UK wildlife and to identify hotspots. We provide regular updates on what we have learned on social media, on our website and in scientific publications."

I am not, I hasten to add, part of the team that works on Project Splatter.


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## Gravity Aided (2 Apr 2019)

Sounds like a noble effort, and provide valuable data for conservation purposes.


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## Dogtrousers (2 Apr 2019)

mudsticks said:


> Hear this 'clandestine dumping' of badgers on the road by farmers thing quite often.
> 
> But think about it, why would we do that, when we have acres of space to do it privately, if we were so minded.
> 
> ...


This did cross my mind while I was moving it and having my Poirot moment.

Poirot: Regardez, 'Astings. This badger is not freshly dead.
Hastings: But dash it all, Poirot, how did a mouldy dead badger get into the middle of the road? Surely no one would store it until it was ripe, and then dump it here? Why not bury it in a field?
Poirot: Patience, mon ami. Poirot will reveal all ...
Hastings: Look out Poirot, mind where you tread, don't step in ...
Poirot: Zut! Ze leetle grey cells. All over my shoes.


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## Globalti (2 Apr 2019)

Interesting. My examination of the dead badger told me two things:

1 - It had had its throat torn out - possibly killed by a dog?

2 - It was a very long way up a steep bank beside the road and the side I could see looked undamaged. 

So maybe it had been thrown up there from the back of a trailer and not by an impact with a car.


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## bladderhead (2 Apr 2019)

On my commute I passed the same - I think it was a fox - every day for a month. That would have made a great series of images for the roadkill gallery.

I am in Ilford on the NE edge of London. Almost always foxes, occasional cats. Never seen a badger, alive or dead. Seen live hedgehogs but never a dead one.


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## Heltor Chasca (2 Apr 2019)

I will occasionally bring deer back for the family freezer. (Aware of all the precautions before I get a bombardment of lectures.)

The last roe was a beautiful doe with minimal trauma. My oldest saw her on the way to school. I saw it and collected it on the way to my youngest daughter’s school. When my oldest got home she said, ‘I forgot to tell you there was a deer on the road, but when I came back from school it wasn’t there anymore so I didn’t bother.’ 

She had venison stew for supper that night. 

When she worked it out she said, ‘I could have guessed you collected her. You are the only person in the village who feeds their children roadkill.’


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## Jody (2 Apr 2019)

Globalti said:


> 1 - It had had its throat torn out - possibly killed by a dog?



Could have been someone badger baiting


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## mudsticks (2 Apr 2019)

Siclo said:


> My bold - it's very common.
> 
> I used to work at the same Defra site that did the initial trial for the badger culling. One of the jobs that the badger team had was to go out and collect 'roadkill' badgers for post-mortem, I can't remember the exact numbers but far and away the vast majority had either been shot or poisoned and dumped in the road to try and hide the cause of death.



That's v interesting, it does beg the question, why are farmers chucking them in the road where they can easily be found. 

Seems a bit of a dumb move.


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## Globalti (2 Apr 2019)

Not at all, no farmer would want a dead badger found on his land.


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## biggs682 (2 Apr 2019)

Heltor Chasca said:


> She had venison stew for supper that night.
> 
> When she worked it out she said, ‘I could have guessed you collected her. You are the only person in the village who feeds their children roadkill.’



Better than shopping at a supermarket


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## mudsticks (2 Apr 2019)

Dogtrousers said:


> I did once see a live badger. Middle of the afternoon on an autumn day (quite the wrong time of day for badgers) in some woodland. Walked round a bend in the path and there it was in front of us. It looked at us rather unconcerned and then bumbled off into the undergrowth.



I had one hiss at me aggressively from a hedgebank as I was walking up a green lane near here.

I had to shake my coat at it quite vigorously to get it to back off - I was really surprised.

Never heard of them going for people unless cornered.


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## mudsticks (2 Apr 2019)

Heltor Chasca said:


> I will occasionally bring deer back for the family freezer. (Aware of all the precautions before I get a bombardment of lectures.)
> 
> The last roe was a beautiful doe with minimal trauma. My oldest saw her on the way to school. I saw it and collected it on the way to my youngest daughter’s school. When my oldest got home she said, ‘I forgot to tell you there was a deer on the road, but when I came back from school it wasn’t there anymore so I didn’t bother.’
> 
> ...



Good clean, and free meat if you get it fresh. 
If we ate more squirrels deer and rabbit, it would be easier for woodland to regenerate.


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## areyouactuallymoving (2 Apr 2019)

mudsticks said:


> I had one hiss at me aggressively from a hedgebank as I was walking up a green lane near here.
> 
> I had to shake my coat at it quite vigorously to get it to back off - I was really surprised.
> 
> Never heard of them going for people unless cornered.



As you say badgers will not normally go for people, unless cornered. They have terrible eyesight and rely heavily on smell. Maybe it took against your cologne?


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## mudsticks (2 Apr 2019)

My cologne??




More likely it thort it could smell one of its own, after a long day of fieldwork


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## Dogtrousers (2 Apr 2019)

mudsticks said:


> My cologne??
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## mudsticks (2 Apr 2019)

Dogtrousers said:


> View attachment 460523



Ahh.... That's where my lip balm went


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## Gravity Aided (2 Apr 2019)

mudsticks said:


> Good clean, and free meat if you get it fresh.
> If we ate more squirrels deer and rabbit, it would be easier for woodland to regenerate.


So long as temperature is below 0c. Deer, I just shoot if necessary. Our deer are a bit bigger. Tastier, as they eat a lot of corn.


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## Banjo (2 Apr 2019)

There's a guy lives near me eats roadkill almost exclusively.

The other day he was telling me about a nice big fresh one he had roasted with spuds and carrots ,lovely apparently.

Then he asked me "what do you think I should do with his bike?"


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## Sheffield_Tiger (2 Apr 2019)

Banjo said:


> There's a guy lives near me eats roadkill almost exclusively.
> 
> The other day he was telling me about a nice big fresh one he had roasted with spuds and carrots ,lovely apparently.
> 
> Then he asked me "what do you think I should do with his bike?"



Apparently 40% of drivers consider badgers less than human......


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## Ming the Merciless (2 Apr 2019)

Gravity Aided said:


> Funny, last fall I examined a dead badger as well. I was not aware badgers lived in my area. But they do.



They don't they come to your area to die...


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## Reynard (2 Apr 2019)

I counted seven dead badgers and one dead fox along the A10 while driving to CamCats in Ware on Saturday.

Most roadkill I see is either too dead or too squashed to make it worth taking, although I've snagged the odd pheasant for the cats. We get a lot of dead pheasants around here, they have no road sense whatsoever.

Wouldn't mind to put some of the muntjacs around here into the crock pot, they're a PITA... My poor roses!


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## Ming the Merciless (2 Apr 2019)

There is a Badger sett not far from me. I sometimes ride down a bridle way through the woods at night. You occasionally get three or four badgers bounding down the track in front of you.


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## mudsticks (2 Apr 2019)

YukonBoy said:


> There is a Badger sett not far from me. I sometimes ride down a bridle way through the woods at night. You occasionally get three or four badgers bounding down the track in front of you.



Yes same here - although they trundle round our way rather than bound - its the unhurried South West Style i sp'ose


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## Dave 123 (3 Apr 2019)

Live ones here...


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## Gravity Aided (3 Apr 2019)

That's a narrow cycle path. And a cool badger.


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## Tiger10 (3 Apr 2019)

Dogtrousers said:


> Last year or maybe year before I found a DB slap in the middle of a narrow lane at about 6:30-7:00am. Can't have been there long because it wasn't squashed and vehicles couldn't get round it. I stopped, and shoved it to the side of the road with my foot. As I was doing this I had a Poirot moment - _it wasn't freshly dead_. It was quite horrible and mouldy. It must have been dumped there by a farmer.





Siclo said:


> My bold - it's very common.
> 
> I used to work at the same Defra site that did the initial trial for the badger culling. One of the jobs that the badger team had was to go out and collect 'roadkill' badgers for post-mortem, I can't remember the exact numbers but far and away the vast majority had either been shot or poisoned and dumped in the road to try and hide the cause of death.



I can't believe this, if i shot a badger i sure as hell wouldn't drag a heavy, potentially tuberculosis infected carcass to my vehicle to make a mess inside and then chuck it in the middle of a road for everyone to see and be picked up. Firstly if i did shoot one it would go in the first hedge and secondly if i was going to remove it then i would sling it in a ditch alongside a road so it was out of view.
The most likely culprits would be more likely to be sporting shooters who are too gung ho and shoot anything but don't want to annoy the landowners and loose the right to shoot.

It's just one of a few usual farming urban myths . And as for defra when did they ever know there arse from there elbow.


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## Dave 123 (3 Apr 2019)

Gravity Aided said:


> That's a narrow cycle path. And a cool badger.



Tis.
It’s at the back of the Cambridge Uni sports centre and other Uni facilities (to the left)

To the right is all fields for about a mile. It’s all owned by the Uni and Cambridge colleges.... same old story, there is a massive plan for houses.

I see lots of animals first thing in the morning here. Makes me sad it does.


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## Ming the Merciless (3 Apr 2019)

This is why I don't like the more modern ultra race bike packing bags. With a traditional rack you have somewhere to strap your dead badger without it affecting handling.


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## Ming the Merciless (3 Apr 2019)

Dave 123 said:


> Live ones here...
> 
> View attachment 460624



Looks like Derek


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## clid61 (3 Apr 2019)

Stayed in a b and b in Somerset years ago in the wilds , our son was 8 . The landlady told us to sit in front room after dark , she put food out under window . A badger and some cubs appeared and fed , it was fantastic. Our son who is now 26 still comments on the experience


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## Julia9054 (4 Apr 2019)

mudsticks said:


> If we ate more squirrels


I know I've posted this before on here but, I give you Kentucky Fried Squirrel


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## Siclo (4 Apr 2019)

Tiger10 said:


> Firstly if i did shoot one it would go in the first hedge



Not sure I'd leave a potentially TB infected carcass rotting in my own hedgerow. Agree about the possibility of sporting shooters.



Tiger10 said:


> And as for defra when did they ever know there arse from there elbow.



Never said they did, at the end of the day I was chemist doing a botanist's job but I reckon a vet can figure out if a carcass has a bullet/shot in it the chances are it's not been killed by a motor.


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## Tiger10 (4 Apr 2019)

Globalti said:


> Not at all, no farmer would want a dead badger found on his land.



Why!!!!! Badgers die normally just like everything else. There was a dead badger in my field last spring and my only concern was did it have tb, didn't even think it may have been shot by a squad of ninja farmers. Are you always so suspicious?? Chill out


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## MichaelW2 (4 Apr 2019)

An invaluable guide to roadkill identification is Flattened Fauna

*A FIELD GUIDE TO COMMON ANIMALS OF ROADS, STREETS, AND HIGHWAYS*


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## Gravity Aided (4 Apr 2019)

Julia9054 said:


> I know I've posted this before on here but, I give you Kentucky Fried Squirrel
> View attachment 460692


Where's the gravy? Fried squarl needs gravy, some corn bread, and some greens.


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## KneesUp (4 Apr 2019)

I am aware of the statistical anomaly caused by the fact that dead badgers do not move, but in over 25 years of driving I have seen a grand total of 1 live badger crossing a road but I have seen literally hundreds of dead ones. It does not seem reasonable to me to think that all the dead ones have been run over. I do, however, know someone who hit a badger with his car, which caused a fair amount of damage. Sadly there was a dead body discovered nearby a few days later, and his car was reported as being in the area (it was quite rural, so not that busy) When the police came around to eliminate him from their enquiries they noticed the damage to the front of the car, which he explained was a result of hitting a badger. "When did that happen then, sir?" they asked. "On the night of the murder" he replied, immediately regretting his choice of words. (He didn't do it)


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## Gravity Aided (4 Apr 2019)

Julia9054 said:


> I know I've posted this before on here but, I give you Kentucky Fried Squirrel
> View attachment 460692


Beans are good with fried squarl, the haddock, cod, fried chicken, and an inch thick elk steak. In place of gravy on the fried squarl, try honey, as well.


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## MichaelW2 (4 Apr 2019)

Dave 123 said:


> Live ones here...
> 
> View attachment 460624



I met a LB one night in a park In Hastings. It ran alongside my bike about 1m away from me, for the whole length of the park then veered off into a small wood.


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## Siclo (4 Apr 2019)

I've seen lots of live badgers, there was a sett in the paddock of the cottage I lived in on the farm when I was younger, had a couple running alongside the bike by the salt works in Northwich on a DIY 400 audax a few years ago. The last one I saw was last September whilst on holiday on the lizard peninsula, the little sod woke me up by emptying the neighbour's bin.


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## mudsticks (4 Apr 2019)

Tiger10 said:


> Why!!!!! Badgers die normally just like everything else. There was a dead badger in my field last spring and my only concern was did it have tb, didn't even think it may have been shot by a squad of ninja farmers. Are you always so suspicious?? Chill out



We really do have a bad rep don't we. 

Murderous b*st*rds one and all.

Sure wildlife can be a pita at times, and threaten our livelihoods, but we don't spend our whole lives going on massive killing sprees - and then driving miles about the place to dump bodies.

Too many folks watching too many murder shows I reckon.


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## mudsticks (4 Apr 2019)

Gravity Aided said:


> Where's the gravy? Fried squarl needs gravy, some corn bread, and some greens.



Yup definitely needs some greens. 
Purple sprouting broccoli with that I reckon


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## Siclo (4 Apr 2019)

mudsticks said:


> Murderous b*st*rds one and all.



Not one and all, but as with cyclists, motorists and any section of society there's always the bad apples.

Exhibit 1) A former colleague and young farming activist who turned up to give me a lift to work with the back of his van stinking because he'd gralloched and quartered a snared deer in the back the night before because it was persisting it down.

I'm not out to paint farmers in a bad light, I loved my years on the farm and met a huge number of caring committed folk but, yes, I've also met a few cruel murderous b*st*rds


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## Gravity Aided (4 Apr 2019)

Siclo said:


> Not one and all, but as with cyclists, motorists and any section of society there's always the bad apples.
> 
> Exhibit 1) A former colleague and young farming activist who turned up to give me a lift to work with the back of his van stinking because he'd gralloched and quartered a snared deer in the back the night before because it was persisting it down.
> 
> I'm not out to paint farmers in a bad light, I loved my years on the farm and met a huge number of caring committed folk but, yes, I've also met a few cruel murderous b*st*rds


Cruel murderous bastards are everywhere, though. Except the Isle of Sodor.


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## classic33 (4 Apr 2019)

Gravity Aided said:


> Cruel murderous bastards are everywhere, though. Except the Isle of Sodor.


You want to read the books again.


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## Gravity Aided (4 Apr 2019)

classic33 said:


> You want to read the books again.


I think I liked the narrator first time around.


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## Tiger10 (5 Apr 2019)

Siclo said:


> Exhibit 1) A former colleague and young farming activist
> 
> What is a young farming activist?
> 
> Is it the first stage to becoming an elite badger hit squad ninja turtle farmer.


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## Gravity Aided (10 Apr 2019)

Teddy Roosevelt had a badger for a pet. In the White House.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL9KvJFNH0s
Not the badger, in the frame above.


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## lazybloke (10 Apr 2019)

He's not long for this world


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## Gravity Aided (10 Apr 2019)

Dogtrousers said:


> THat bloke does interesting videos but I find his voice is just so annoying.
> 
> It is HISTORY ... That DESERVES ... To be remembered.


I think he teaches at McKendree College, which is a college in a small town in Illinois. Every so often, you'll come to a small town like Eureka or Monmouth or Lebanon, and there among the ruralness is a little college. I think McKendree is just about the oldest college in Illinois.(1828). About 3,000 students, in a town of about 4,000. I think they are building, or have built, new residence halls so you don't have to pledge a fraternity.(although I rather liked fraternity life, it is not some people's cup of tea.).


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## steveindenmark (12 Apr 2019)

There are a lot of live badgers where I live but I see very few dead ones. There are dozens of deer and in 15 years I have only seen one dead one. We expect animals on the road in my part of Denmark and so people maybe drive accordingly.


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## Dogtrousers (12 Apr 2019)

steveindenmark said:


> There are a lot of live badgers where I live but I see very few dead ones. There are dozens of deer and in 15 years I have only seen one dead one. We expect animals on the road in my part of Denmark and so people maybe drive accordingly.


Denmark is the location of the mythical Badgers' Graveyard where all badgers go to die. Since the end of the last ice age, when the British Isles were separated from the continent, badgers in the British Isles have their death-migration instincts frustrated by the North Sea and the English Channel, which is why we get so many dead ones on the road.


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## oldwheels (12 Apr 2019)

There are no badgers on Mull and if there were they would probably get eaten by a Sea Eagle. This may sound fanciful but according to some experts much of the indigenous wildlife is being killed off including Golden Eagles. Even non experts are beginning to notice a decline in most species from rabbits to seabirds.


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## 12boy (14 Apr 2019)

Here in Wyoming we got your raccoons, skunks the odd badger, fox and coyote and many deer and pronghorn antelope. Other places you add possums and armadillos. We got no hedgehogs but we does got porcupines. There can be turkeys, too, because the toms stop traffic and want to fight with cars. Snakes get run over on the bikeparhs because they like to warm up in the sun. Although harmless, a six foot bullsnake can be startling. Always sad to see dead wildlife, especially after hitting a deer has trashed your car.


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## Elybazza61 (14 Apr 2019)

Dead badger seen on today's ride and yesterday's commute saw a dead hare


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## bladderhead (14 Apr 2019)

Today I was getting the bike out out of the shed and I saw a dead bee.


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## Gravity Aided (15 Apr 2019)

12boy said:


> Here in Wyoming we got your raccoons, skunks the odd badger, fox and coyote and many deer and pronghorn antelope. Other places you add possums and armadillos. We got no hedgehogs but we does got porcupines. There can be turkeys, too, because the toms stop traffic and want to fight with cars. Snakes get run over on the bikeparhs because they like to warm up in the sun. Although harmless, a six foot bullsnake can be startling. Always sad to see dead wildlife, especially after hitting a deer has trashed your car.


I have opossums, and occasional armadillosin my area. I think badgers carry bovine tuberculosis. Armadillos carry leprosy.


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## Heltor Chasca (15 Apr 2019)

Yesterday was a particularly graphic roadkill day. The Dorset Coast 200. Even living in nearby Somerset I haven’t ever seen so many dead animals. There was an injured partridge. I wanted to get to it to end its suffering but it was in an inaccessible field. Later on there was a roe deer that had been hit by a car and was writhing in agony. Head and torso injuries, wide eyes, braying in pain. It was very distressing for anyone who passed. I hope someone (a vet or gun owner) got to it quick. Poor animal.

I hate our car centric lifestyle.


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## TheDoctor (15 Apr 2019)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EllYgcWmcAY


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## 12boy (15 Apr 2019)

TheDoctor said:


> View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EllYgcWmcAY



Wow...in a similar vein there is "Dead skunk in the middle of the road" by Loudon Wainright III. 
Pretty much sets this post to music.


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## Poacher (16 Apr 2019)

About a week ago I passed what I took to be a dead escaped Ferret between Burton Joyce and Lowdham in Notts. My driver sensibly wouldn't stop and let me investigate!
Now I've seen the Vincent Wildlife Trust  site I realise that it was probably a wild Polecat, due to the colouration. I had thought that they were starting to colonise counties like Staffordshire and Cheshire in their expansion from the North Wales stronghold, but apparently Notts started getting reports in the early 2000s and they've reached Lincolnshire and Norfolk! If anything like Ferrets (they are), it was probably quite niffy when freshly dead, so I won't be going back to check for a positive identification.


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## Gravity Aided (21 Apr 2019)

We had a great horned owl in our neighborhood last year, but somehow he got hit over on Route 66, I found him on the bike trail, in flying attitude. I called the State Fish and Wildlife, as he was banded. I was afraid that by the time he got gamey, the vultures would arrive. The vultures, or turkey buzzards, as they are called, live at the insurance company, doubtless attracted by the large cliff like buildings, and subtle irony.


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## Tiger10 (21 Apr 2019)

Dogtrousers said:


> No badgers on yesterday's ride but I did see a squashed adder on the South Downs



Bloody farmers shoot anything and Chuck it in the middle of the road


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## Gravity Aided (21 Apr 2019)

Tiger10 said:


> Bloody farmers shoot anything and Chuck it in the middle of the road


Not in my experience.
Results may vary.


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## classic33 (21 Apr 2019)

Tiger10 said:


> Bloody farmers shoot anything and Chuck it in the middle of the road


I'd be careful if you go past any farms then. You never know...


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## lazybloke (28 Apr 2019)

Saw a friendly brock (alive) this morning. Thought it was a fox in the road ahead of me; I made noises so it knew I was coming; sure enough, it faced me and stopped. That's when I recognised it as a badger.
And then (of course) it panicked. If I drew an overhead plan of it's movements on the road, it might look like brownian motion. It also ran _right_ in front of my front wheel.
God bless their clicky claws.


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## bladderhead (28 Apr 2019)

Why are you posting on the dead badger thread? Did you shoot it?


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## Gravity Aided (28 Apr 2019)

The living badger is of interest as well.


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## lazybloke (28 Apr 2019)

Dead badgers are common as muck.
A live badger is a rare thing of beauty.

This one was at a wildlife refuge, and obliged by saying "Cheese!"


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## bladderhead (28 Apr 2019)

I would rather see a live one than a dead one. There are a lot of living pheasants in Essex.


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## nickyboy (28 Apr 2019)

lazybloke said:


> Dead badgers are common as muck.
> A live badger is a rare thing of beauty.
> 
> This one was at a wildlife refuge, and obliged by saying "Cheese!"
> View attachment 464316


As there are no badgers on Mull I wonder if there are any on Muck?

Live badgers are the bane of my life. They are very common around here and they are always in the garden digging it up. Looks like a rotavator has been at work


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## gbb (29 Apr 2019)

Not cycling at the time but i was driving to work a couple years ago, just as daylight was flooding across adjacent fields. WHAT THE HECK IS THAT ????? as i saw this trundling silhouette of a creature loping towards some bushes, at quite some speed, some distance away.
A badger of course, it dawned on me we've all seen them, but rarely at speed, rarely in the open. Its gait threw me for a few seconds., quite bearlike.


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## Tenkaykev (29 Apr 2019)

Not wishing to sidetrack the thread, but it is bike related.
My wife has named her Cream coloured Brompton " Badger" and even had decals printed to go on the frame.

It took a while for the penny to drop about the band Cream and one of her favourite tracks.


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## 12boy (29 Apr 2019)

Riding through northwestern Wyoming to the northern entrance to Yellowstone National Park I once saw a coyote running for its life across the road. You don't often see them in the daytime and they are hard to see when still since their natural colors are a pretty close match with the brown and tawny summer colors of the high desert. Close behind the coyote was an enraged badger who was like a large hairy rug with legs underneath in a blur. Even bears and mountain lions leave them alone since although they can kill a badger it won't go down easy.


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## bladderhead (29 Apr 2019)

One of my bikes has hub gears, the other one has Disraeli gears.


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## Dogtrousers (15 Jul 2019)

Saturday's report. One dead and very fresh looking badger in Sole Street. Two dead hedgehogs. A sort of furry vole/mouse thing.

No dead squirrels, but quite a lot of live ones.


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## Arjimlad (15 Jul 2019)

Tenkaykev said:


> Not wishing to sidetrack the thread, but it is bike related.
> My wife has named her Cream coloured Brompton " Badger" and even had decals printed to go on the frame.
> 
> It took a while for the penny to drop about the band Cream and one of her favourite tracks.



Good reason to get a bike - if she doesn't have the time to wait in the queue !


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## graham bowers (15 Jul 2019)

Camping on Shell Island in Wales a couple of weeks ago whilst doing Lon Las Cymry we had live badgers in the tent porch after food in the middle of the night. I got a great view as the tent wasn't zipped up.


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## Profpointy (15 Jul 2019)

We get a (live) badger in our garden. Mrs PP has seen it and the grubbing up of bulbs, squashing of the flowerbeds, and big hole dug under the fence is quite strong evidence . A neighbour had his quite large waterbut pulled over resulting in a tsumani on his patio that washed away his pot plants. The badger was blamed for that too. A colleague nearby as seen one, presumably a different one, in his own garden. We live in the middle of Bristol so quite impressive really.


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## Gravity Aided (16 Jul 2019)

A lady near me had a caracal, which she was turning out like it was a regular cat. It attacked a woman and her child, and was attacking a dog when the police showed up. In the States, you could imagine what happened next.
https://www.pantagraph.com/news/loc...cle_1a37db31-fc8a-56d4-bd54-e7afb24df2c4.html


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## Tiger10 (16 Jul 2019)

Gravity Aided said:


> A lady near me had a caracal, which she was turning out like it was a regular cat. It attacked a woman and her child, and was attacking a dog when the police showed up. In the States, you could imagine what happened next.
> https://www.pantagraph.com/news/loc...cle_1a37db31-fc8a-56d4-bd54-e7afb24df2c4.html
> View attachment 475704



They shot it and dumped the body on a British road.


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## Gravity Aided (16 Jul 2019)

Tiger10 said:


> They shot it and dumped the body on a British road.


No, just shot it.


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## Gravity Aided (16 Jul 2019)

I think I did mention now and again that I'm in the States.


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