Badgers attacked and hit with spades in the Peak District

Updated
Badgers attacked and hit with spades in the Peak District
Badgers attacked and hit with spades in the Peak District



Badgers were hit with spades and their setts were interfered with in the Peak District, according to a conservation group.

The High Peak Badger Group found a mutiliated badger close to one of five sets that have been interfered with.

The attacks have taken place near Chapel-ek-le-Frith in recent weeks.

According to the BBC, police said such crimes are often linked to machinery theft and sheep rustling.

Chairman of the Derbyshire group, Brian Ashton called the attacks "terrible, inhumane ctimes".

The attackers use dogs to trace the badgers.

"The badgers are then brutalised by dogs and, judging by the evidence we have found, by men assaulting them with spades or taken away for sport," Mr Ashton said.

A force spokesman said: "The kind of individuals who commit these horrific crimes are by nature often aggressive and violent people and may well be involved in various other crimes and they should therefore never be approached directly."

According to the Derbyshire Police, police receive hundreds of calls from members of the public relating to wildlife offences every year.

Incidents include swans being butchered for their meat, wild bird eggs being stolen from nests, the persecution of birds of prey in the Peak District and people deliberately targeting badgers by digging or blocking access to setts and intentionally destroying a bat roost.

A group of volunteers and Derbyshire Police have increased monitoring of "vulnerable areas", the BBC added.

These animals are protected by law and carrying out any of these acts is a criminal offence.

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Anger Over Extended Badger Cull
Anger Over Extended Badger Cull

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