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- Badgers in a town in Northern England are wrecking graves – paining the bereaved.
- One man found that 101 graves were damaged in a single night.
- Those impacted want the badgers removed, but that can only be done with a special license.
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Gravedigging badgers are causing pain to the bereaved as they uproot the sites where loved ones are laid to rest.
In a small town in Northumberland, Northern England, local residents are fearful that the badgers will start digging up dead bodies.
The Sunday Times' Hannah Al-Othman reports that one man, who lost his wife to motor neurone disease, had installed cameras in the cemetery to watch why plots appeared to be disturbed. In one night, he saw 101 graves damaged by the badgers.
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"It's absolutely devastating," The unnamed man told The Sunday Times. "There was an old lady lying on her husband's grave, breaking her heart because it had been dug up. Little babies' graves have been dug up. If anything happened to my wife's grave, I think I would just sit in the car all night to protect it."
The grieving man is hoping for the badgers to be sedated and removed, allowing peace to be restored in this place of rest.
The damage by the badgers hunting for worms and grubs has been repeatedly reported to the county council, who have said they cannot take any action as per the Protection of Badgers Act.
A license is needed from Natural England to move the badgers, an offshoot of the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs. However, such a license can only be obtained if the animals are thought to be doing serious damage and not just foraging.
Georgina Hill, a local county councilor, told The Sunday Times that there is a delicate balance to be struck between protecting the interests and emotions of animal rights groups, local ecology, residents, mourning families, and laws.
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