Badgers

slowburner

Travelling on the N/M 11 today, I was surprised by the number of dead badgers.
I think there were about eight in a 20 km stretch.
Badgers don't hibernate so what could be causing them to be so active and cross motorways?

cuddlycavies

They will hibernate in really cold spells. They are always on the move in a big way at this time of year. Whether it's a mating thing or what? Scandalous number killed near Loughlinstown in the last 15 years. It seems as if that stretch of road cut through a path or something. Less there in recent times. Not surprising given the number of deaths 01-09. Terrible! One at Glen of Downs today. Theres a sett at Farrankelly. One of them I fear.

magicbastarder

roads being built in the last few years are really badly done from a wildlife point of view. instead of steel armco barriers separating either side of the road, they now use mile after mile of impenetrable concrete barrier - so you often get wildlife running along the barrier and eventually being mown down.

kildare.17hmr

Places where rare or protected spieces are known to cross in places for new roads have tunnels! There was duckting put on the m7 for snails iirc and a few spots for badgers

snowstreams

Ive seen an unbelievable amount of dead badgers too. I assumed it was the mating season alright.
The under road tunnel seems like a great idea alright for motorways. They do that all over the place in canada, but they even have grassy bridges to tempt the more cautious animals like bears and wolves to cross the roads safely!

littlebug

I've noticed a few on the roadside of the Headford Road/ Curragh line outside Galway too

saw my first live badger last summer

olly_mac

I'm up in north Mayo at the moment, and have seen a few dead on the roads too. It was the same last year.

Eddie B

Yea its to do with the breeding season alright! Last years young are pushed out by the Mother to make room for this years young. So they venture out into the big bad world where they come across unfamiliar roads and such!

slowburner

Eddie B wrote: »

Yea its to do with the breeding season alright! Last years young are pushed out by the Mother to make room for this years young. So they venture out into the big bad world where they come across unfamiliar roads and such!

From the badgers' point of view, this is a very bad world indeed.

wildwolf1

I counted 9 dead badgers on Thursday on N/M11 between Glen of the Downs and Arklow - it's such a shame!

Maudi

wildwolf1 wrote: »

I counted 9 dead badgers on Thursday on N/M11 between Glen of the Downs and Arklow - it's such a shame!

i counted the same amount on the same stretch..and why on the farankelly road (a stretch of two kilometres of road divided by continous concrete bollards ..what dummy in charge of enviromental impact in the n.d.p thought this was a good idea!? apparently these people train for years yet a four year old child asks how do mice hedgehogs fox badgers expect to get back and forth?