Many people are disillusioned into believing that badger crime is something of the past, especially since the Protection of Badgers Act was introduced in 1992. 

However, this is not the case! 

Badger baiting has developed into a popular 21st century blood sport, with increasingly sophisticated methods used to detect the badgers hidden in their setts.

Baiters send their small terriers down setts to locate and hold a badger at bay. The baiters then dig their way down, destroying the sett, and drag the badger out.

Baiters will then either:

• Shoot the badger (lucky escape)
• Set their dogs onto the badger to watch a long and agonising fight (for both the dogs and the badger)
• Take the badgers to a makeshift arena where dogs and badgers are placed together to fight, where large amounts of money is exchanged in gambling.

Badgers are shy and peaceful animals, but they will fight aggressively in their defence if cornered.  Due to a badger’s considerable strength, gangs often remove their teeth and claws or cut their hamstrings to guarantee a longer and closer fight.

Regardless of how much of a fight a badger puts up, its fate is sealed.  Once it has fought to exhaustion, it is clubbed to death or shot. The dogs will be shot or treated at home; it is too risky to seek veterinary treatment.

A dog’s value will increase if it wins a fight, as well as its offspring.

Bureaucratic flaws
For many years Naturewatch has worked closely with badger experts and wildlife crime officers and has learnt that the root cause of the lack of badger related prosecutions is due to the fact that badger baiting is not a notifiable offence.  Offences committed under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 can only be tried in Magistrates Courts, which means they are summary only and are not notified to the Home Office.  These offences are therefore excluded from the publicly-available statistics that compare the performance of each police constabulary.  These statistics act as an incentive for the police to predominantly focus their work towards notifiable offences, leaving the violent crime of badger baiting to continue with minimal interference.

TOP