Danielle Ethier wants to know if a squat creature, the size of a raccoon, with a checkerboard-black-and-white face and (gulp!) two-inch-long front claws is in your neighbourhood. The question is whether you, as a farmer, are willing to tell her?
Ethier, a masters student at Trent University in Peterborough, says that as few as 200 American badgers remain in Ontario. Historical reports place them in Glencoe and even near Kincardine, but mostly their burrows are found in sandy soil areas of Norfolk, Brant and Haldimand.
Badgers are classified as an endangered species, and Ethier says landowners shouldn’t be concerned that they won’t be able to farm around the burrows if they are located.