Buckinghamshire Badger Group – How You Can Help

how you can help

The conservation and protection of badgers, their setts and their habitat in our County can only be achieved with your help.

Report New or Existing Setts

If you know of any badger setts in the county, please submit a sett record form. Our aim is to build up a complete record of all setts in the county, and these are monitored as regularly as possible by our network of local contacts.
Please remember always to be very discreet who you tell about badger setts, especially their precise location. There are people about who enjoy digging badgers (usually with terriers) and who cause untold suffering to these fascinating and harmless creatures.

Report Badger Crime

Badgers and their setts enjoy total protection under “The Protection of Badgers Act 1992”

Badger crime can take place in a number of ways;

Lamping and shooting of badgers at night using high-powered lamps and vehicles
Snares; there are both legal and illegal snares in our countryside; however it is illegal to put any type of snare on a badger sett or a badger run.
Under The Hunting Act 2004 it is now illegal for any hunt to block up a badger sett or dogs to mark at a badger sett.
By far the most sinister crime is the digging of setts, catching of the animals and baiting them with dogs, either on site or elsewhere.

If you think you see anybody badger digging, or carrying spades and with terrier dogs in areas near to a sett, please call the police using 999 and a badger group contact without delay.
You can also contact the Police Wildlife Crime Officer for Buckinghamshire, PC Dean Kingham by email at dean.kingham@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
For all crime in progess dial 999 but for other enquiries use the Thames Valley Police non-emergency number, 101.
You should be ready to give the following details:

how many men, and what are their descriptions?
do they have dogs with them, and if so how many and what sort?
exactly where are they?
do you know if they have a vehicle parked nearby?
if so, the make, model, colour and registration number, and where it is parked
anything else which will help attending police to locate the suspects

Do not challenge suspect diggers yourself, as some of them can be dangerous.

Please refer to the Badger Trust for additional information.

Report Injured or Dead Badgers

If you come across an injured badger within the county, please phone the local contact for the area you are in. Our group contacts can be reached 24/7; each contact has specialised rescue equipment; please do not attempt to pick up an injured badger yourself; they can bite!
If you come across an injured badger anywhere else in the country, please call the RSPCA national reporting hotline on 0870 55 55 999 or a local veterinary surgeon or wildlife hospital.
If you find a dead badger, please notify the local contact for the area you are in, or submit a casualty report. This is important whether it is lying at the side of the road, or elsewhere. If it has signs of having been snared, or injuries not consistent with being hit by a car, it is crucial that we are told as soon as possible, as well as the police or RSPCA.
It is especially important that we are told immediately of dead badgers in the spring time, as if the casualty is a lactating sow there may well be orphaned cubs left starving underground, which will need rescuing and rearing.

Planning Applications

Tell us about planning applications which may effect badgers and their setts; we are keen to ensure any building application takes into account badgers and their setts. We will enter into discussions with Councils, developers and environmental consultants.

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