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Endangered B.C. badger population experiencing major losses on highways

It’s been a bad summer for the endangered B.C. badger population.
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Despite highway warning signs this female badger and one of her kits were killed on Highway 97 recently next to the UBC-Okanagan campus near Kelowna. Four badgers have also been killed on highways in the Cariboo region so far this year.

It’s been a bad summer for the endangered B.C. badger population.

Badgers, one of the rarest mammals in B.C., continue to be killed on our highways again this year, reports Helen Davis of Artemis Wildlife Consultants.

In the past week alone, she reports at least four badgers in the Okanagan Valley have died after being struck by vehicles, including one badger east of Vernon killed on Highway 6 despite attempts at warning motorists about its presence.

Warning signs had been installed in June, but it was struck and killed between the signs.

Two days later, a family group of mother and two babies called “kits” were struck and killed on Highway 97 east of the UBC-Okanagan campus where they had created a lot of interest after taking up residence above a parking lot.

Biologists estimate that fewer than 250 mature badgers live in the Western population Okanagan Valley-Cariboo region in B.C.

“That means almost two per cent of this endangered population was killed on highways in two days,” Davis said.

“That doesn’t include four other badgers killed in the Cariboo region so far this year.”

She said badgers’ most common cause of death is being hit on roads and road-kill is the single biggest threat to this population.

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is aware of the negative impact of highways on badger populations, Davis said, but meaningful changes to highways to reduce road-kill, such as fencing and effective underpasses to help badgers to cross roads safely, have not been used to date.

New research underway in B.C. is attempting to learn how big of a factor roads and other barriers are to the health of badger populations in BC.

This summer, biologists at UBC-Okanagan, B.C. Ministry of Environment, Okanagan Nation Alliance, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Artemis Wildlife Consultants are collecting hair samples for genetic analysis to find out where important connections occur between badger populations in B.C. and the larger population in Washington State, Davis said.

The public can report badger sightings and learn more about badgers in B.C. at www.badgers.bc.ca or 1-888-223-4376.