Badger photographed in the Kamloops area.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Taylor Borth
April 23, 2023 - 8:00 AM
A Kamloops photographer caught an unusual wild animal on her camera a few days ago, a North American badger.
Taylor Borth won’t disclose the exact area she found the endangered species at in order to protect it, but she did share photos of the unique looking critter on social media.
“Where I found this guy was pretty safe and away from traffic and danger,” she said. “I don’t want the animal to be crowded by people.”
Borth considers herself lucky for the special badger sighting, it’s the first and only badger she’s ever seen. She wasn’t feeling well the day she headed out with her camera and almost didn’t go. It was a sunny and warm late afternoon.
“When I first saw it I didn’t know what it was, I guessed marmot and when I got a bit closer thought that’s not a marmot,” she said. “It was huge and not afraid at all, keeping tabs on me the whole time. It was digging when I came up on it and had dirt all over its face, it was really cute.”
Borth kept her distance from the badger as the animals can be aggressive. She said the experience was memorable and she enjoyed watching the badger’s movements and behaviours.
Badger photographed in the Kamloops area.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Taylor Borth
Badgers in BC are endangered because of human development damaging their grassland habitats and many of them die every year trying to cross roads and railways lines, according to the province. A recovery team for the province collects information on the creatures and develops conservation plans to help restore badger populations to a sustainable level.
READ MORE: iN PHOTOS: Photographers capturing migratory birds returning to Kamloops, Okanagan
Badgers are members of the weasel family and the only carnivore in the country that burrows after its food, eating other burrowing critters like pocket gophers and marmots. The have huge front claws to dig for food and shelter and can dig up to a metre a minute.
Named for the patches of black on their cheeks, badgers are stout and shaggy looking with adult females weighing roughly 16 lbs and the males roughly 25 lbs.
READ MORE: Lyrids Meteor Shower will intensify above Kamloops and Okanagan until it peaks next week
They live in dry southern valleys that have grasslands, shrub-steppe habitats or open forests of ponderosa pine or Douglas fir. They are solitary animals that only get together to mate or raise babies.
The species of badger that occurs in North America is called the North American badger.
Badger photographed in the Kamloops area.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Taylor Borth
Badger photographed in the Kamloops area.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Taylor Borth
Badger photographed in the Kamloops area.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Taylor Borth
To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2023