Badger Trust launches new ‘Space for Badgers’ campaign

Learning to live alongside an iconic and ecologically important native mammal in a time of UK environmental crisis.

Badger Champions are needed now more than ever as biodiversity threats continue to impact badgers and their habitats. Badger Trust is launching its new Space for Badgers campaign to promote sustainable human-badger coexistence and inspire new generations of Badger Champions.

Space for Badgers encompasses the charity’s drive for improved environmental policies to address the impact of roads, housing developments, and subsequent human-badger conflicts. Additionally, the campaign will inspire a love for badgers through educational resources and citizen science initiatives.

Peter Hambly, Executive Director of Badger Trust, explained:

In making Space for Badgers, we show how important nature and wildlife is to our country. By learning to live alongside this iconic and ecologically important native mammal, we show how valuable nature is to our future. Britain needs to protect and nurture badgers, especially at a time of environmental crisis

How does environmental policy impact badgers?

Environmental policy impacts both animal and human communities. If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it is that we rely on nature for our health and well-being, as do the numerous other species we share the environment with.

Improper management of native ecosystems spells disaster. We are all interconnected with other species and we all live in multi-species environments, whether we try to keep nature separate from us or not. Yet, Britain is one of the most nature-depleted landscapes in the world, the worst of all G7 nations.

Badgers as ecosystem engineers

As a living symbol of the British countryside, these secretive and mysterious mustelids continue to bring joy to those lucky enough to encounter them in the wild. And badgers play an integral and vital part in the UK's ecosystems.

The largest of Britain's remaining carnivores, badgers have called Britain their home for the past 250,000 years, from a time when wolves, brown bears and lynx once roamed Britain. Badgers are part of our shared heritage, immortalised in countless place names across Britain, such as Broxbourne (derived from Old English, meaning badger stream), Brock Lane, and Badger Inn.

Yet badgers are also a deeply misunderstood and marginalised species. A long history of wrongful vilification as pests and vectors of disease has left badgers as one of the most persecuted of all our native wildlife. Not only is this a sad state of affairs for an animal that has done no wrong, but badgers are integral to the ecosystems and natural landscapes we depend on.

Their role as ecosystem engineers contributes to habitat heterogeneity and promotes biodiversity. Badgers maintain and regenerate soil health through foraging and sett building, and they help to disperse seeds through their dung. They create new habitats for amphibians, invertebrates and pollinators, small mammals, plants, and fungi, and their setts provide refuge for other wildlife too. All of these elements are vital for healthy ecosystems.

Planning and Development – an increasing issue for badgers

In 2022 the government confirmed it would stick to its plans to build 300,000 new homes per year by the middle of the decade, many of these occurring in vital habitats for native species.

While the UK housing crisis is an important issue that government needs to address, the current planning and development regulations do not adequately protect Britain’s land-sharing wildlife.

Badgers and their setts are protected under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. It is illegal to disturb, harm, or destroy a badger or its sett, either with malicious intent or through negligence.

However, planning and development activities are some of the most common threats to badgers reported to Badger Trust. Over 50% of badger crimes reported are sett interference, and 20% of these are related to housing and development.

If not handled correctly, development projects can result in the loss of badger habitat, the increased urbanisation of badgers, an increase in garden problems for surrounding homeowners and even an increase in road casualties, which already claim the lives of an estimated 50,000 badgers each year. As ecosystem engineers, the loss of viable habitat for badgers has wide-reaching consequences for other native plants and animals.

Noise disturbance, the loss of foraging ground, and the fragmentation of territories all contribute to significant environmental stress for badgers. At sites of long-term development, such as HS2, badgers have failed to reproduce for consecutive years. Badgers in these situations are seeing a loss of entire generations. Once housing developments are complete, new homeowners can find themselves in conflict with their badger neighbours. Badgers are extremely traditional animals with exceptional loyalty to their home territory. They will often return to favoured foraging sites in search of food, sometimes upturning newly growing lawns in the process.

Badger Trust supports the need for greater government commitment and action to meet its environmental targets. Badger Trust also campaigns for greater awareness of the ecological importance and joy of this iconic native animal, and how humans and badgers can coexist and live harmoniously.

The beloved brock has been here long before humans, living alongside us and other native species throughout the ages. To lose this iconic native animal would truly be a national tragedy. We can all become Badger Champions, safeguarding badgers for future generations and learning to live in harmony.

How you can be a Badger Champion and Act for Badgers

Do you want to respond to a planning consultation to help safeguard badgers?

With the right action at the right time, you can make a positive impact for badgers. Whilst the presence of badgers will rarely be enough to prevent planning permission from being granted, it is often possible to intervene at the consultation phase in order to seek the correct mitigation and compensation measures to protect badgers from harm and avoid any long-term problems.

Read our guide for Badger Champions.

Get active locally and help protect badgers near you before, during and after development projects.

Are you a Developer?

Download our FREE Guide for Developers. The document is designed to guide you through appropriate steps to protect badgers and their setts from development activities, with advice on legal responsibilities and badger harm mitigation strategies.

Are you an Individual householder/property or landholder?

Read our advice if you want to undertake development on your land and check for its impact on badgers.

Are you worried about sett interference?

Report crimes and suspicious incidents, e.g. unlicensed sett interference.

Do you want to learn how to live in harmony with your badger neighbours?

Our Living with Badgers resources include guidance for gardeners, information on the badger’s protected status, and what to do if your dog ventures into a badger sett.

Read our guide to living alongside your local badgers.

Volunteer with your local badger group and help protect badgers near you.