Canis lupus hominis

Badger hunting with Staffies, 1921

November 1, 2012 by retrieverman

Photo from Nara U. Amazing that these dogs were used to dig badgers! They haven’t been spanned! And bull and terrier types aren’t real terriers! (snark!)

Posted in working retrievers | Tagged Staffordshire bull terrier | 4 Comments

4 Responses

1. on November 1, 2012 at 1:20 pm ragingbulldogges

   Reminds me of when the AKC was first instituting go to ground tests. I wrote to both the AKC and the Boston Terrier parent club, asking that BTs be allowed to participate. Both were equally horrified.

   
   
2. on November 2, 2012 at 7:02 am chervilmeadow

   Such a photo today could be used as evidence in a British court.

   In the last era of badger digging in Britain, prior to 2004, the dogs employed for ‘digging out’ tended to be smaller than those depicted in your photo and universally of the shortlegged jack russell or patterdale type; still occasionally used here as ratters, but mainly kept as a favourite lively companion dog. and bred in a healthily informal way.

   Incidentally, in the cruel “sport” of badger baiting when the badger seemed to be winning the abominable ‘terrier men’ would then release another dog to join the fray. Such ‘lovely’ people!

   
   
   • on November 2, 2012 at 8:18 am retrieverman

     If they allowed a badger hunting season, then there would never be any attempt or even a suggestion for a cull.

     I have no idea what the exact science is on bovine TB, but we allow people to hunt and trap raccoons. Their numbers aren’t down at all.

     I’ve yet to find anyone who would throw a fit about taking a few of them, and they are eaten in some parts of the country.

     In the Russian Far East, they do eat badger.

     
     
3. on November 2, 2012 at 1:17 pm massugu

   Once again I have to agree. Control (as in a licensed hunting season) vice an absolute ban is the best answer. Yes, individual animals will die (they die in any event), but the species will continue. Since a litter may contain as many as 6 cubs (1 litter per year), it would seem that it has evolved to survive under a regime of at least moderate predation.

   Which brings us to the current dilemma–there currently seems to be little natural predator pressure (if any) on the UK’s badger population (their burgeoning numbers would seem to support this assessment.) The species is classified as of Least Concern for extinction by the IUCN, due to its wide distribution and large population, and its only known natural predators, wolves and lynx, are currently absent from the UK’s ecosystem. Red Foxes and Raccoon Dogs are not large or fierce enough to prey on them and in fact often share dens w/ them, so neither of these predators is an option as a natural control.

   Thus hunting by humans would seem to be good for the species over all, in that it will provide the evolutionary pressure necessary to continued health of the species while simultaneously reducing the incidence of: TB transfer to livestock; undermining of buildings (a common problem w/ European Badgers); and confrontation w/ domestic pets; as well as eliminating the need/call for wide-scale culls.

   BTW: My cursory on-line research does indicate that a significant percentage of European Badgers harbor Mycobacterium Bovis and that the incidence of TB in domestic cattle correlates directly to the relative population density of badgers in any given area.
   (for an abstract see: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2271205/ and for a statistical analysis see http://www.bovinetb.info/ )

   
   

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