TWO badgers were killed illegally in snares and dumped as 'roadkill' in Berwickshire, it is claimed, writes Sally Gillespie.
The badgers were discovered with broken necks at the side of a road near Duns.
Police this week say investigations are ongoing and are appealing for information.
And the Scottish Badgers organisation have described the alleged crime as “appalli
ng”.
Scottish Badgers’ species protection officer, Ian Hutchison, said: “It is appalling that these animals are still being snared and then to put their bodies at the side of the road (to pass off as roadkill) is appalling.”
He had not heard of other incidents in the Borders, but said: “There is certainly a lot of badger crime that is taking place in the Borders that has come to light.”
He instanced the conviction of badger baiters from Hawick at Jedburgh Sheriff Court earlier this year. And he reiterated Scottish Badgers’ call for a ban on the use and ownership of snares.
“Some of these animals are dying horrendous deaths, taking a long time and suffering in the process of being killed. The badger is a very powerful animal and once trapped it’s going to put up a fight to get away.
“We keep being assured snares properly set are only there to contain animals, but we keep getting these instances of badgers almost cut in half trying to get away from them.”
Since the Scottish Government decided against banning snares earlier this year, he said there had been more cases of badgers caught in the wire traps.
To date this year there has been more than 60 incidents involving criminal activity on badgers, Mr Hutchison said, adding: “These are the ones coming to light, what else is going on that we don’t know about? There is badger crime going on and if anyone has any information they should get in touch with the authorities.
“Badgers are protected. There are legal means of dealing with problems from badgers, people don’t need to take the law into their own hands.”
Advocates for Animals campaigns director Ross Minett said: “We have campaigned, along with Scottish Badgers and other welfare and conservation groups, for an outright ban on snares. These traps are far too widely used and far too easy to misuse. Until they are seen for what they are – indiscriminate, lethal and unacceptable – tragic incidents of this type will keep occurring.”
Badgers have been protected since 1992 and in 2004 the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act introduced tougher penalties for those caught committing crimes against them.
The full article contains 431 words and appears in Southern Reporter newspaper.
