The Death of a Badger

Posted on by Hanna

The badger is the largest predator in Denmark and can reach the age of 7 to 8 years.
We found this lovely badger dead on the railway tracks 3 days ago. Probably hit by the train in the early morning.
The badger is rather slow and noisy when looking for food, so it rarely captures healthy mammals and birds, but likes to take carrion.
It often find food within a range of 300-400 meters from the grave. The badger is a real troglodyte, who lives more than half his life down in the grave.
The badger gives birth to 2-3 cubs and raise them in the den. The cups are born in March, but they are not allowed to come out of the grave before May when they learn to seek feed together with their mother.

Sad end of a beautiful walk.

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Skovbrug og grævlingegrave

34 thoughts on “The Death of a Badger”

      • Yes, and it was a strange experience. I was leaving work late one night (just past midnight) and walking across a pedestrian crossing (one with traffic lights) in Darlington, in the north-east of England. I was surprised to see a badger shuffling towards me from the other side. Luckily it was late and there was little traffic about. One car came up the road but the driver spotted the badger and stopped to let it cross safely, which was quite a comical sight because the traffic lights had turned to green by this time. Then the badger stopped in the middle of the road, turned round, went back the way it had come and disappeared into the shadows. The driver looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. I expect he remembers the incident as clearly as I do. Perhaps the badger does as well.

      • Sometimes you are lucky. I’m glad I asked you if you had seen a badger 🙂
        Thank you for a lovely story ❤
        All the best,
        Hanna

  2. A lovely walk, and the badger is adorable. It’s sad to see death at all. All creatures have a purpose. Every creature can’t be a kitten or puppy. ❤

    • So have I Magnoliae. It would have been spectacular to see him walking around with his family and friends 🙂 ❤
      All the best,
      Hanna

  4. Sad that the badger was killed. We don’t have them in Australia. I expect they do a helpful job of getting rid of dead smelly carrion. I didn’t know their homes were called graves and they spend half their lives down there. How interesting! Thanks for this information and photo about a creature I know little about. 🙂

    • Hi Jane. Badgers eat loads of earthworms, maybe it’s their favourite dish. They also eat small animals and birds, and they take insects, frogs, berries and fruits. Most of the animals are usually carrion although the living goes down if the badger is fast enough 🙂
      All the best,
      Hanna

    • Thank you, Indah. Every year 3000 – 4000 badgers are killed in traffic in Denmark. That’s an awful lot. The badger we found were beautiful. Sad indeed!!

    • Gracias Isabel. Es más fácil hacer frente a si el tejón había muerto de una enfermedad o porque era viejo. Era como una criatura hermosa y muy saludable para mirar !!
      Un abrazo
      Hanna

    • Lovely to hear from you, Mike. I’m happy to learn that you have experienced a badger probably grunting and snuffling for food 🙂
      I read that their sense of smell is 700 times more developed than humans. You’ve been very lucky ❤

  8. I’m sorry such a lovely walk had such a sad ending — for you, and for the poor badger. The world is so hard on the little things, isn’t it? But the rest of your images are a welcome reminder that the world can be beautiful, too. Well done, Hanna!

    • Thank you so much, Heather. I read this quote by Norman Cousins:
      The tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside us while we live. Let us appreciate life as a precious gift 🙂
      All the best,
      Hanna

  9. Beautiful post, but always sad to see a wild animal killed.
    I’m also curious, does the Danish word for where they live translate as “grave”? We use grave for where you bury dead bodies, and a live animal would live in a “den”. I love linguistics! (Sorry, I’m a nerd.)

  10. Sad. When I find a dead animal my first thoughts go to: what if there are little ones somewhere, waiting….dying. When I was a child I could not stop thinking of the family that had lost their breadwinner. I remember how I cried and could not sleep. My mother had tough times with me because of all animals I would come home with as well…

    • Hey Ash. Yes you are right. It depends on whether the buzzard isn’t dead after eating a rat which has ingested rat poison. We humans are like elephants in a china shop 🙂

    • I agree, Andy. I find it hard to accept that maybe there are cubs back in the grave, waiting for their mother.
      It is easier to accept if the badger was sick or died ‘full of days’ and earthworms 🙂

  13. Very sad…..sadder still in the UK. as they now have licensed culls to shoot Badgers in various parts of our country. The Government insists that they spread TB in Cattle yet there own research is very inconclusive. As I say very sad and one of our countries favourite wild animals….it is also the emblem of The Wildlife Trust (so ironic).

    • Hi David. It’s uncomfortable if decisions are made on a wrong basis. Especially if the background is haggling in politics.
      I hope the culls will be over soon and the cozy animals can live their lives in peace in nature.
      All the best,
      Hanna

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