The American Badger: A Lesson In Respect

As the conservationist Aldo Leopold once wrote, "There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot."

I am one who cannot.

A rare encounter with a very special mammal recently left me pondering this idea, the notion that living in touch with nature adds something profound to the value of our human existence, that my life would be sorely lacking if I had not grown up with one foot in the wild, and didn't live that way still.

An American badger, watching me and thinking badger thoughts, while I watched him and marveled
at the profoundly positive effects of a life lived in harmony with nature.

As a kid, my parents took me all over the western half of the U.S., traveling, hiking and exploring.  Today, my husband and I often venture out together, for little reason other than simply to enjoy being in nature and to see what we can see.  From massive humpback whales, elephant seals and dolphins in the Pacific, to bears, bobcats and pika in the Sierra, and bison, moose and bighorn sheep in the Rockies, I've encountered quite a few mammals in the wild, and every time I am left awestruck.  I am stopped in my tracks and fall silent (even more silent than usual) and am compelled to just watch, quietly from a distance, and marvel.

What is it about wild animals that is so enchanting?

Some would say it's their nearness to us, their human cousins.  Others would say it's their beauty and grace, or their captivating behavior.

Or maybe it's simply the novelty of encountering a real, living, breathing animal, in our world of plastic and screens, and feeling a gentle tug back to a simpler time, a more primitive time, perhaps a time in a Garden when things were as they were meant to be, humans and animals living in balance and harmony.  

Whatever the reason, the draw is undeniably present.  And yet, many who experience nature only on rare occasions don't know what to do with it.

A badger living a peaceful existence, minding his own business.

Wild animals are either unnecessarily feared or foolishly disrespected.  People who are otherwise insulated from nature can do some incredibly irresponsible and harmful (not to mention dangerous) things when they encounter wildlife, everything from taking selfies with bears and kidnapping bison, to feeding deer and keeping raccoons as pets, to unnecessarily poisoning rodents (which inevitably kills owls) and shooting coyotes and other predators.

The truth is, I won't say exactly where I encountered this badger, because I'm afraid of putting its life in danger.  Though badgers are listed as a Species of Special Concern by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, plenty of farmers and ranchers see these large relatives of the weasel as pests.  Though they are top predators of ground squirrels, the badger's propensity for digging has lost it more than a few friends as its excavations have been known to damage levees and pose a potential leg-breaking hazard to livestock.  As a result, the badger's natural role in the ecosystem has been disregarded, and the animal has experienced excessive poisoning and trapping across its wide range in North America.

For that reason, this badger's greatest chance of success lies in secrecy.  I hope this badger, one of just a few left in this area, is able to quietly live its life out on the grasslands, staying away from humans and roads, reproducing, and keeping the ground squirrel population under control, without human interference.

The American badger (Taxidea taxus) is a denizen of dry, open areas across central and western North America, from grasslands, fields and semi-desert scrublands to alpine meadows and open forests.  Largely carnivorous and nocturnal, badgers hunt a variety of smaller mammals, even taking birds and reptiles when the opportunity presents itself.  But ground squirrels and pocket gophers make up the bulk of the badger's diet, which helps to control rodent populations.

Though they have a reputation for being aggressive, like their cousin the wolverine, badgers only act as necessary to defend themselves if threatened.  Left alone, they are far more content to go about their own business of digging up ground squirrels, excavating burrows and basking in the sun.

Badgers are known to occasionally hunt cooperatively alongside coyotes.  While badgers are superior diggers, coyotes are faster runners, so while the badger unearths ground squirrels from their burrows, the coyote is on standby to snatch up any squirrels that try to make a run for it.  This partnership is legendary, appearing in Native American stories, and is now better understood by biologists.  Coyotes and badgers hunting together may catch up to 30 percent more ground squirrels than when hunting alone.  Of course, they do often hunt alone, but I would love to see this interaction for myself someday!  Until then, there is YouTube!  This recent video from California's Santa Cruz mountains is the first documented record of a coyote and badger traveling together through a man-made structure.

If you're lucky enough to encounter a badger - or any other mammal - in the wild, be decent enough to show it the respect it deserves.  Watch quietly and calmly from a safe distance, leave it in peace, and never feed a wild animal.  Realize that animals have been put on this planet alongside us for very specific reasons, some of which we don't even fully understand.  It's not our place to selfishly and wantonly harm and destroy, but rather to protect and value.

Because the distribution of badgers is poorly understood, especially in the severely altered Great Central Valley, data is valuable!  If you see a badger, keep a respectful distance, let it be, and report it to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife here.