This badger was spotted along Highway 5, about one kilometre south of the Timeless Treasures Antiques.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Maitland Simrose
July 02, 2022 - 8:36 AM
A rare and endangered badger surprised a Barrière resident last week.
Maitland Simrose was driving home after getting fuel June 27 and saw a badger along Highway 5, about one kilometre south of the Timeless Treasures Antiques.
“I honked at it to get off the road and it looked at me and kind of did a charge,” he said. “Then it stomped into the wheat field.”
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“I’ve never seen a badger in my life other than in the wildlife park in Kamloops.”
Simrose said he was incredibly surprised to see one and he showed photos to his wife of the creature, who wanted to find it again, but when they returned to the spot it was gone.
American badgers are the largest species of the weasel family.
They are stout, shaggy, nocturnal animals that are highly specialized for digging, according to a report from the province.
“Dens dug by Badgers are used by many other species of grassland wildlife. In British Columbia, these dens were once particularly important for Western rattlesnakes and for the rare burrowing owl,” according to the report.
It is believed there are only about 350 breeding adults left in B.C., according to the province.
The species is endangered due to small numbers, continuing loss of habitat, persecution, and road mortality, according to the report.
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