National Badger Day in the UK Date in the current year: October 6, 2024

Badgers are short-legged omnivorous mammals in the family Mustelidae, which also includes ferrets, martens, minks, otters, polecats, weasels, and wolverines. Stink badgers, also known as false badgers, look similar to badgers and were thought to be related to them, but they were reclassified into the family Mephitidae, which also includes skunks, in 1997.

Badgers are found in much of North America, most of Europe and Africa, and in parts of Asia (China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Turkmenistan). There are fifteen extant badger species, not counting two species of stink badger: the greater hog badger, the northern hog badger, the Sumatran hog badger, the Asian badger, the Caucasian badger, the European badger, the Japanese badger, the Bornean ferret-badger, the Burmese ferret-badger, the Chinese ferret-badger, the Formosan ferret-badger, the Javan ferret-badger, the Vietnam ferret-badger, the honey badger, and the American badger.

In Europe, the term “badger” is usually applied to the European badger, also known as the Eurasian badger, because it is the only badger species that commonly occurs on the continent. The European badger can be found in most of Europe, except for northern Scandinavia. Due to its large population size and wide range, the European badger is not classified as a threatened species. However, that doesn’t mean that badgers don’t face any threats.

The biggest threats to European badgers are roadkill, wildlife crimes, habitat loss, and badger culling. Badger culling has been permitted in England since 2013. It supposedly helps to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis, which badgers can carry, but research has shown that more than 90% of cases of the disease are transmitted from cow to cow, so killing thousands of badgers every year is really unnecessary. The efficacy of badger culling is disputed, and many consider this practice inhumane and cruel.

National Badger Day was created to put an end to the cruel practice of badger culling, as well as to celebrate these amazing animals and their biological role. The celebration of National Badger Day in the UK is actively promoted by Badger Trust, a charity organization whose mission is to enhance the welfare, conservation and protection of badgers in England and Wales.

You can get involved with National Badger Day by donating to Badger Trust or buying official merchandise from the Trust’s Brock Shop. Even if you don’t live in the UK, you still can celebrate badgers and the role they play in ecosystems by watching a documentary or reading a book about badgers, symbolically adopting a badger, seeing badgers at your local zoo, campaigning for putting an end to badger culling, and spreading the word about #NationalBadgerDay on social media.