BE AN BADGER AMBASSADOR

Hunters for BC aims to bring awareness throughout British Columbia regarding the current populations of our wildlife.  Increasing human encroachment and habitat loss have affected almost every species of wildlife, in water and on land, in our province.

BADGERS ARE AN ENDANGERED SPECIES IN B.C.

Badgers’ information provided below has been developed and published by Ministry of Climate and Environment, Wildlife Health division via website http://badgers.bc.ca/.  We share here for the purpose of increasing outreach for the Badger Ambassador & Awareness Program.

About Badgers

• In British Columbia, badgers are thought to live in the dry southern valleys that have grasslands, shrub-steppe habitats, or open forests of ponderosa pine or Douglas-fir.
• Badgers typically need two things to live in an area—lots of food to eat and places to dig their burrows.
• Badgers are amazingly powerful animals, capable of digging into the most hardened soil in pursuit of prey. Badgers dig incredibly quickly—up to a metre deep in a minute! Old badger burrows are also important for other creatures that can’t dig their own homes. The endangered burrowing owl is one such animal, but several rare snakes also use burrows for shelter.

The American badger subspecies found in British Columbia (Taxidea taxus jeffersonii) is classified as endangered because:

• Their habitat is being negatively affected by human development. Badgers seem to need some component of grassland to survive. Urban development and agriculture can reduce the suitability of these dwindling habitats for badgers.
• In the early 1900’s, badgers were widely persecuted because of the perception that they were an agricultural pest. Many landowners feared that the large burrows dug by badgers posed a threat to livestock. People tend to be more tolerant of badger burrows nowadays, but the populations probably did not fully recover.
• Many badgers die each year trying to cross busy highways, roads, and railway lines. Humans are still a great cause of death within badger populations in British Columbia.

 

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT

1. Develop content printed material to promote the Badger Ambassador & Awareness Program
2. Promote “Report a Badger” – Sightings allow the Recovery Team to track where badgers are still occurring in the province.
3. Utilizing badgers that have been killed due to road mortality plus two kits (baby badgers), a taxidermist will create an adult badger + kits in a tasteful taxidermy mount complete with habitat. (Habitat is the addition of materials that bring a more natural appearance of the badger to a full life-size mount.)
4. Delivery printed material (rack cards, post cards & stickers) to a variety of tourism businesses in areas where Badgers reside (interior of B.C.). We have 2 volunteers that will travel throughout these areas to meet local businesses and deliver Badger Ambassador materials to share with tourists & residents of British Columbia.  This outreach is planned for 2 people, 1 day per week for a 6 – 8-week period annually.
5. Develop an additional outreach/educational program in which the badger + kits and habitat mount can further awareness of this endangered species. As an example, our partner, Monte Creek Ranch Winery hosts a month-long fundraiser and Badger Awareness each July.  Further opportunities for use of mount will be developed upon completion of taxidermy work.
6. Promote badger awareness thru social media & news media outlets throughout the year.

Badger Ambassador

Monte Creek Winery is supporting BC badger conservation! All badgers in BC are of the subspecies, Taxidea taxus jeffersonii, and BC is the only place in the world that these badgers live. Badgers, in general, may not be endangered, but ours are. There are less than 350 badgers left in BC, meaning the subspecies is red-listed and ranked S2, or imperilled, by BC’s Conservation Data Centre.

LEARN MORE