Badger-baiting - Animal Cruelty

Animal Cruelty

Apart from the cruelty towards badgers, dogs are also brutalized in the blood sport. Dogs usually suffer injuries of the face and neck. In some cases, the injuries are such that the dogs must be euthanized.

Today, baiters often refrain from taking injured dogs to veterinarians as the doctor might understand what has taken place and report the owners to the police. For this reason the badger is often crippled and/or restrained to minimise the risk of injury to dogs. The badger's long front claws may be filed off; the canine teeth may be pulled out; the animal's limbs or jaw may be broken with a shovel. To inhibit the badger's movement, there are rumours that the tendons in its hind legs may be cut. Griffiths et al. mention nailing badgers to the ground by the tail.

When the badger can no longer fight, it is killed by the baiters. Known modes of killing include shooting, stabbing, or beating to death with a shovel. Dead badgers are sometimes dumped by the roadside to be mistaken for roadkill (a major cause of badger mortality).