13/03/2025
Smutny artykuł ale warto przeczytać.
Prosimy, zwolnijcie, szczególnie w nocy i drogach poza miastem. One nie mają żadnych szans w wypadku z pojazdami.
♥️🦡♥️🦡♥️🦡♥️🦡♥️🦡♥️🦡♥️🦡
This story has taken a while to write, mostly during my 4am commute to work, where I see so many badgers—alive and dead. I often find myself trying to imagine what it’s like for them, to feel the pain, confusion, and fear in their final moments after being struck by a car.
Every life matters, and far too often, we overlook the creatures we share this world with. Please, let’s remember the creatures who walk this earth alongside us—and be more mindful as we move through their world.
Please report any badger you see to your local badger group - the numbers for Northamptonshire Badger Group are 07734672874 and 07824701799.
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'I don’t know how long I’ve been here. It feels like everything is slipping through my paws—my claws, my fur. I can’t hold onto time anymore. I… I don’t know if it’s been minutes or hours, or maybe it’s just… forever.
I was running. I think I was. My paws, they were sure, they were quick, I felt the wind in my fur, I smelled the earth, the cool damp of the leaves. The earth is my home. The earth knows me. The earth is soft beneath my feet.
But the path... this path, it’s hard. It’s too cold. Why is it so cold? The earth has gone. My paws are not on the earth anymore. I—what happened?
I was running. I was. I had to get back. I had to get back to my sett. My little ones. My babies. I was running for them. I promised. I promised I would always protect them, keep them safe. Always.
But now... Where am I?
The light. The light, it came so fast, so bright, so sharp. Like the moon, but no, no it wasn’t the moon. The moon doesn’t hurt like that. The moon doesn’t crush you, it doesn’t scream at you like the monsters in their noisy… what was that? What was that terrible noise? That sound?
My head... it’s too heavy. It’s spinning. The world is spinning. The earth is spinning, and I—I can’t feel it. It’s all gone. My legs, my paws—they aren’t moving. Why aren’t they moving? I can’t feel my paws.
The light. The eyes. So bright. So big. I couldn’t see anything but those eyes. I couldn’t see anything but that terrible light. They were like moons, so big, so round, but… no, the moon doesn’t scream. The moon doesn’t hurt like that. The moon doesn’t come at you like that, does it? No, no it doesn’t.
I felt it. I felt it hit me. The world turned upside down, then right way up, then upside down again.
The pain. It exploded inside me, it tore through my chest, through my side, through my head. It hurt. It hurt, but—why can’t I feel it now? I can feel the blood, warm and thick in my mouth, in my fur. But it doesn’t matter. Why doesn’t it matter? I can’t feel the pain the way I thought I would. I thought it would be all I could feel. But there’s something else. Something worse.
I... I can’t move. I can’t move.
I tried. I tried so hard to move. I tried to run, but my legs—where are my legs? Why can’t I feel them? My body is heavy. It’s not my body anymore. My body’s not mine.
I need to get up. I need to go back. I need to—my little ones. They’re waiting for me. I promised them. I promised. I—I was supposed to be there.
My sett. My sett.
Where is it? Where’s my sett? I’m supposed to be home. I’m supposed to be safe. I’m supposed to be with them. They’re waiting for me.
I can’t... I can’t see the earth. The ground is gone. I’m not on the earth anymore. The stone path—it’s hard. Too hard. Cold. Why is it so cold?
I... I can’t feel them. I can’t hear them. Are they calling me? Are they waiting?
The light—it’s fading. Everything is fading. The sound, the pain, the earth, the path, it’s all... slipping away. I try to hold on to it, but I can’t. The earth is too far now. It’s too far away.
Where are they? My little ones, are they safe? Did they hear me? Did they feel me leave? Did they—did they know I was trying to get back? I was running for them. I ran for them, but I... I couldn’t. I couldn’t get there.
The path… it’s not meant for me. I don’t belong here. Not on this cold, hard stone. I belong in the earth. I belong where it’s soft, where it’s warm, where I can burrow deep, where my family is safe. Where my babies are waiting for me.
But now, I’m just here. The earth is too far.
I can’t get to them. I can’t feel them anymore.
I was supposed to protect them. I promised them I would. But now… I’m not there. I’m not there to keep them safe.
I failed them.
I close my eyes, and I see them. My little ones, their tiny faces, their soft paws, their trusting eyes. I hear them in my mind. I hear them calling for me. But it’s not the same. It’s fading. It’s too far. They’re too far.
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I couldn’t protect you.
The darkness is coming. But it’s not peaceful. It’s cold, and it’s... it’s an end.
I was supposed to be there. I was supposed to be home.
But I’m not.
I’m not there anymore.'
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Please slow down for wildlife - especially at night and on country roads.
Adam
*Sorry for the graphic image, but this is the heartbreaking reality of badger road deaths. I came across this badger shortly after it had been hit by a car in Leicestershire. It was still warm. Sadly even if I hadn't been too late, there was little I could have done.
