A plea to ‘give badgers a brake’

The Island’s Badger Society has pleaded: ‘Give badgers a brake’ after a record number of 52 were killed on roads last month.

The Trust’s Chris Packham said: “Sadly, a truly shocking number of badgers were killed on our Island roads in March – 52, which is by far the most there has ever been recorded in a single month since we started collating the records 11 years ago.

“These badgers were checked to see if any were a sow (female) and lactating.

“March is a busy month for badgers and as a result many are killed by road traffic at this time of year, but we’ve never had this amount before, it’s unbelievable.

“For comparison our records show these figures for March over the years: 2012, 20; 2013, 19; 2014, 23; 2015, 24; 2016, 24; 2017, 26; 2018, 33; 2019, 28; 2020, 23; 2021, 18; 2022, 52.

“Badger Trust reported recently that there have been NO badger signs approved by the Department for Transport since the small mammal (hedgehog) signs were introduced in 2019, presumably other groups came up against the same brick wall as we did when applying for warning signs?

“It’s time that the Department for Transport changed their policy and allowed badger warning signs. 52 badgers killed in one month on a small island, it’s heart-breaking.

“The Isle of Wight Council wants the warning signs, our MP wants them, we are prepared to pay for them with the installation kindly covered by Island Roads too. What else can we do?

“Slow Down ‘Give Badgers a Brake’.”