Badgers

Badgers have been known to be a very aggressive species and the truth is they are. Taxidea taxus (scientific name for badgers) is a stubby, short-legged mammal of North America. Their habitat consists of open grasslands and deserts. Diets consist of rodents and other small mammals. Extremely long claws on the front feet aid this species in digging for shelter or finding food.

WildCare received 2-orphaned badgers only a few weeks old early in April, one male the other female each weighing about one pound. They were found by an Oklahoma landowner who was driving up to his property and spotted a dead badger on the road. When he got out to investigate he noticed these two and thought it was unusual since mother badgers are very protective of their babies. The landowner was surprised not only to see these infants but he didn't know he had badgers on his property.

These babies were quite popular among the WildCare staff and volunteers, and also for those that made it to our annual baby shower. The badgers were our winners for the cutest baby contest.

Jeremy, a dedicated volunteer, can be seen bottle-feeding one of the young badgers. Once summer came, the badgers were old enough to be moved from the nursery to larger enclosures outside were they could experience more natural environments such as dirt, grass, different weather temperatures and other wildlife. Unfortunately, the little male passed but the female is doing well.

"Badge" as some volunteers call her has done what badgers do best and that's to dig holes and tunnels. When she is scared she races to one of her holes and enters tail first. Then in a moment of curiosity gets the better of he, she pops her head out of another hole. We never know when she goes underground where she will appear. Since we don't handle her we can only guess she now weighs 30 pounds. She is about 30in. long and 16in. wide and her belly just clears the ground due to badgers' short legs. With those legs she is deceivingly quick, she can out run us for short distances. She looks something like a hairy footstool but with her attitude we don't recommend propping up your feet on her. Even as babies, badgers are opinionated and set in their ways. She definitely is not an animal that we would try to take anything away from. This is one of the traits that will make her an excellent release candidate.