Campaign launches to protect endangered badgers being killed on roads in B.C.'s Interior

Courtney Dickson · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 03, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

B.C. residents are being asked to study badger sightings arsenic portion of a caller run aimed astatine protecting the elusive American badger. 

The summertime months tin beryllium immoderate of the astir deadly for American badgers, which are endangered successful B.C., according to Karina Lamy, a carnivore conservation biologist with the provincial government. 

The main reason? They get deed by cars portion travelling connected the road. 

"The mortality play for them connected the roads … starts June, peaks successful July, and past drops disconnected successful August," she told CBC's Daybreak Kamloops impermanent big Doug Herbert. "You mightiness spot a pistillate close present with 2 to 3 kits, [but] with a mortality complaint of up to 80 per cent successful immoderate areas, astir of the kits mightiness not marque it into the fall."

In an effort to trim the fig of badgers killed connected B.C.'s roads, the province, successful concern with conservation organizations Badgers successful B.C. and the Simpcw Resources Group, has launched the B.C. Badger Connectivity Initiative, which aims to make safer roadworthy crossings for badgers by designing caller road infrastructure and gathering passable culverts astatine 5 spots successful B.C.'s Interior wherever badgers are astir apt to beryllium killed by roadworthy traffic. 

In bid to get a amended thought of wherever badgers are, the inaugural is asking radical who spot a badger — dormant oregon live — to study it connected the Badgers successful B.C. website. 

Those reports spell into a provincial database that volition assistance the radical fig retired wherever infrastructure is needed to assistance support badgers safe. 

"Sightings from radical connected the onshore are 1 of the astir important tools we have," Ceryne Staples, who leads the badger conservation programme wrong Simpcwúl̓ecw, said successful a quality release. 

A badger sighting successful B.C. is rare. 

"You mightiness inquire radical successful an country wherever you cognize determination are badgers, and they've ne'er seen 1 before," Lamy said. 

Lamy said up to 245 mature badgers unrecorded successful the Cariboo, Thompson and Okanagan regions, portion determination are up to 160 successful the Kootenay Boundary region. 

They are considered endangered, aft years of situation nonaccomplishment caused by quality development, postulation deaths and persecution; badgers were considered an cultivation pest, according to Badgers successful B.C.

But American badgers are calm creatures, Lamy said. 

"I deliberation they're benignant of a astonishing animal," she said. "A batch of radical volition deliberation that the badger is simply a small spot more, possibly similar the African chromatic badger, that it's similar this fierce, feisty animal, and they tin be. But successful the experiences that I've had with them this spring, they're really a overmuch calmer, relaxed carnal that you'd deliberation adjacent when it's been trapped and it's sitting successful the cage trap waiting for you to merchandise it."

Lamy said the radical is presently trapping for badgers truthful researchers tin enactment harnesses connected them to way their determination to amended recognize wherever they are. 

They've besides enactment cameras successful culverts to show transition rates. 

"Hopefully, with that information, we tin plan amended roads unneurotic with the Ministry of Transportation and our First Nations partners."