A badger seen in a Kamloops garden.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK/ Cherie Bitz
July 24, 2020 - 10:53 AM
Necropsy results have revealed the badger seen in a Kamloops garden this past spring died of suffocation.
Conservation officers arrived at the Brocklehurst residence on Tuesday, May 6, to try trapping and relocating the endangered animal, but the next day returned to find the badger dead.
"It was human caused, but not with malicious intent," conservation officer Graydon Bruce said. There will be no charges forthcoming.
He explained the resident filled in the hole in their garden several times and as a result, the badger suffocated in its burrow.
"The goal of the person related to it was just to have that badger exit out another entrance," he said. "They didn't understand they had one way in, one way out."
In a video posted to Facebook by the resident — which was removed following the badger's death — it was seen poking its head out of the garden several times.
"That badger surfacing those times was to get air," Bruce said. "It's unfortunate, this could have been avoided with proper reporting."
The badger was initially misreported to the conservation service, and by the time it was positively identified, the report had already gone through to the wrong department.
"At that point it had already been wrongly reported so it didn’t actually get to the appropriate places for it to be actioned and the situation to be avoided," Bruce said.
It was an unfortunate end to the story, as badgers are an endangered species in B.C.
Dr. Karl Larsen, professor of Natural Resource Sciences at Thompson Rivers University, estimates there are only 300 to 400 badgers in all of B.C.
Bruce points to a need for better education and awareness around badgers.
"People (need) to better educate themselves on what badgers are, what their status is at the moment, and how to identify them," he said.
He urges anyone who sees a badger in their yard to report it to the B.C. Conservation Officer Service by calling 1-877-952-7277.
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