Badgers
in BC

Dedicated to the
Conservation of Badgers
in British Columbia

#REPORTABADGER

Badgers are Endangered in British Columbia

The subspecies of badger found in British Columbia (jeffersonii subspecies) is classified as endangered because:

  • Their habitat is being negatively affected by human development. Badgers seem to need some component of grassland to survive. Urban development and agriculture can reduce the suitability of these dwindling habitats for badgers.
  • In the early 1900’s, badgers were widely persecuted because of the perception that they were an agricultural pest. Many landowners feared that the large burrows dug by badgers posed a threat to livestock. People tend to be more tolerant of badger burrows nowadays, but the populations probably did not fully recover.
  • Many badgers die each year trying to cross busy highways, roads, and railway lines. Humans are still a great cause of death within badger populations in British Columbia.

Members of the jeffersonii Badger Recovery Team have been hard at work collecting information on badgers from throughout their range in British Columbia. These projects involve monitoring occurrences of badgers throughout BC, collecting baseline information on the ecology of these unusual creatures, and developing conservation plans to restore badger populations to self-sustaining levels.
badger-killed-on-road-in-bc

Badger Recovery Team

In 2001, a Federal Badger Recovery Team was formed in response to population declines.  The BC badger population is thought to have declined over the past several decades based on historic persecution, reported low recruitment, high road mortality in certain regions, and anecdotal reports from landowners citing badgers becoming less common over the past 20 years. For these reasons the jeffersonii subspecies (American Badger) has been classified as Endangered in Canada.

The Jeffersonii Badger Recovery Team has developed a prioritized action plan for conserving badgers in British Columbia. This ‘logic model’ helps the team identify where to focus its efforts to ensure the best “bang for the buck” in trying to reach its overall goal of achieving a self-sustaining population of badgers in British Columbia.