A Badger Snared When my acquaintance spoke of badgers, I
mentioned that I thought they were much more common in our locality than many people realised, and he laughed and said he thoroughly agreed, because he had been robbed of chickens by a badger on several occasions. He had proof of his claim, because he had set a snare, a contrivance of stout woven wire and chain, and he had caught the thief. The badger had entered by the same gap in the defences each time, and setting the snare had been easy. The unfortunate creature managed to slip its head and shoulders through the noose, but was snared round the abdomen. The owner of the chickens killed it in the morning. Chickens are valuable, and the man did what any poultry-keeper would do in the circumstances. He said he was sorry that it had been necessary, for he did not think that badgers habitually raid chicken runs. The culprit in this case was an old, infirm animal in very poor condition, and I think it likely that it found the taking of a chicken the easiest means of survival.
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