Church to evict burrowing badgers
26 April 2008 - BBC News
A Gloucestershire church has been told it can evict badgers from its grounds.
For weeks the creatures have damaged graves at St Lawrence Church,
Cheltenham, by tunnelling under headstones and leaving holes.
After talks between the church, the Gloucestershire Badger Group and Natural
England, a licence to remove the badgers will be granted in June.
The Reverend David Eady said the church hoped to act swiftly because the
damage was "upsetting" for families.
Rev Eady added: "Under the terms of the Badgers Act, we are not allowed to
interfere with the sett before June. As we understand it, the badgers will first
be excluded and a kind of one-way door, like a cat flap, will be put on the
entrance so they can't get back in again. There's no question of culling here -
I'm told they have an extended social organisation and will move on. This is one
of those occasions where sadly the needs of animals are in direct conflict with
the needs of human beings."
Widow Shirley Webb was horrified to discover 4ft (1.2m) deep hollows
surrounding the grave of her late husband Jesse. The badgers had caused so much
damage that her son Martin had to remove his father's ashes and put them inside
the church.
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