Badgers digging up human remains
14 December 2007 - BBC News
Pest controllers have been brought into a graveyard in Nottingham after human
remains were disturbed by badgers. Bones from graves have been spotted at St
Leonard's churchyard on Wollaton Road after badgers from a nearby sett started
tunnelling. Reverend Jerry Lepine from St Leonard's Church said it had been
distressing for family member who had relatives buried in the cemetery. But he
added the badgers were being "moved on" humanely within a few weeks.
The cemetery opened at the beginning of the 20th Century and as the badgers
have tunnelled through some of the older graves, bones have been pushed up to
the surface.
Mr Lepine said: "There is a badger sett on the boundary of the cemetery and
at certain times of year they're particularly busy and I'm sad to say, they
extend their setts and tunnel through into the cemetery and human remains have
been disturbed. It's very distressing for the families who have graves here but
what we do if remains do come to the surface, is re-inter the bones in a
reverential and appropriate way."
As badgers are a protected species, the process has been very "lengthy" and
all the "proper permissions have been sought", Mr Lepine said. This means a wall
is being put in place to prevent the badgers moving into the grounds, with the
hope they will relocate to nearby Wollaton Park.
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