More badgers on Utrechtse Heuvelrug, fewer in east of Utrecht

The number of badgers in Utrecht and the Gooi province has been fairly stable in recent years. The Badger Working Group Utrecht and the Gooi Foundation counted 200 setts east of the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal.

In the area of ​​the Kromme Rijn and in parts of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, the number of badgers remains the same, or the population increases slightly. However, in large parts of Oost-Utrecht, the foundation is finding more and more abandoned castles. "Badgers are reported relatively more often as traffic victims, in contrast to the much more common foxes," says Hans Vink of the Badger Working Group Utrecht and Het Gooi Foundation. "Just like hedgehogs, badgers crossroads at night without first carefully looking left and right. While a fox often first carefully inspects one thing or another before crossing. In addition, the traffic intensity and the number of paved roads in the province of Utrecht are increasing."

The Utrechts Landschap Foundation has taken several measures to protect badgers and will continue to do so in the coming years. For example, Utrechts Landschap has placed a fence on the Kurk, a small nature reserve in Driebergen, to prevent badgers from entering the busy road there. Utrechts Landschap has also constructed badger tunnels. Utrechts Landschap also ensures that badger paths remain open when placing (mesh) fences. This is done in the Dartheide nature reserve, among other places.

The badger was almost extinct in the Netherlands in the 1960s. Due to reintroduction programs and several protection measures, the number of badgers has increased again. According to the Stichting Das en Boom (Badger and Tree Foundation), there were an estimated 3,500 badgers in the Netherlands at the beginning of this century. There are now approximately 7,000 of them.