Extreme heat leads to call for an immediate stop to the badger cull

Badger Trust calls for a halt to any planned badger cull operations on animal welfare grounds due to the current high temperatures.

Badger Trust has written to the Chair of Natural England to suspend all badger cull licences in the present extreme weather conditions. The supplementary badger cull started on 1st June and covers cull zones in popular tourist hotspots across England from Cornwall to Cumbria. Further culling is expected to take place under Intensive cull licences in other cull zones imminently.

Badger Trust is asking the body that licences badger culls – Natural England – for an immediate suspension of badger culling in the current scorching weather.

The letter from Badger Trust Executive Director, Peter Hambly, reads:

“It is against animal welfare guidelines and practice to keep animals in cages at the temperatures we are experiencing right now of over 30 degrees. Presently badgers could be caged and left in these extreme conditions until they are shot.

Please do not intensify the suffering of badgers in this hot weather by allowing them to be left in cages, unable to dig for worms due to the hard ground or quench their thirst, and at risk of dying from dehydration and heat exhaustion. We are pleading with you to suspend cull licences in these conditions immediately as a preventative step.”

This is a difficult time for badgers already with the hard ground making it very difficult to find their preferred food, worms, and fresh water. The hot weather also leads them to forage further distances leading to an increase in road traffic deaths.

Peter Hambly said:

“It would clearly be inhumane to cage animals in this heat – the suffering of the nocturnal badger in these temperatures must be unbearable.

Natural England has the power to suspend cull licences and we urge them to do so – it would be against any animal welfare standards to do anything else.”

Further information:

The effect of hot weather on badgers and how to help

The favoured prey source of the badger is earthworms, but when the ground gets very dry, worms go into a state of torpor called ‘estivation’. This means that worms are impossible to come by.

To feed or not to feed in hot summer weather?

If you choose to feed a hungry badger in need, please provide a natural food source – such as unsweetened fruit and nuts – or covered cat biscuits. And please leave some fresh water in the shade.

Please remember – providing food for any wild animal is a balance; supplementary feeding should be just that.

How much water does a badger need?

Not as much as you'd expect for a large mammal as they mainly get moisture from their food. But with so little rainfall this month, leaving out fresh water in a shaded area of your garden benefits badgers and all your wildlife visitors.

A bowl of fresh water could provide a lifeline for a badger in scorching weather, especially if they are too dehydrated to make it back to their sett.

Top up water at night as well, so there’s plenty of fresh water for badgers and other nocturnal wildlife.

Why do you sometimes see badgers in daylight more often when it's hot?

It can be because their quest for food takes them out at times they'd normally be sleeping.

It can also be uncomfortable underground and they frequently use 'day nests'; this is where badgers lay up on bedding under a hedge or tree, sometimes in a garden or under a shed, your compost heap or down an alley.

The best thing is to leave the badger alone as it'll go when it's ready, that night in most cases.

What to do if you're worried about a badger

If you see a badger alone during the day and you’re worried it may be in distress, contact your local Badger Group or local wildlife rescue for help and advice.

Discover more about how drought affects badgers.

Read our advice on living alongside your local badgers.