178 THE BADGER. 



In the same way one hears that a dog cannot 

 hurt a badger that he is so tough of hide as to 

 emerge without discomfort from any kind of an 

 encounter with terriers. Nothing could be further 

 from the truth. A badger feels and suffers just 

 the same as any other warm-blooded beast. I 

 have seen the state of a dog after an underground 

 encounter with Brock, and how he will fret and 

 suffer, unable to eat his food owing to the mangled 

 condition of his muzzle, even though every care 

 and comfort man can give him be his. How 

 much worse must be the plight of the poor wood- 

 land creature, injured and frightened by the 

 invasion of its sanctuary, and having no human 

 mind to understand or human hand to help ! I 

 am convinced that many a badger that has been 

 baited and worried underground emerges in appa- 

 rent safety, only to hide away and die a linger- 

 ing death from the wounds about its mouth and 

 tongue. Yet badger-digging is considered by some 

 as the sport of gentry 1 



To send terriers in to a badger among rocks is a 

 doubly cruel business, for the cruelty embraces the 

 dogs also. A keeper with whom I am acquainted 

 lost both his terriers in this way. The den of the 

 badger was at the foot of a wood, where large and 

 small boulders, overgrown with bracken and fern, 

 lay in wild profusion. One terrier was sent in, but 

 appeared to be in difficulties ; so the other was 

 liberated. For a long time the sound of fighting 

 came from below, but suddenly all was quiet. 

 Dusk fell, night followed, but still no terriers. At 

 dawn next day a horse and chains were taken to 

 the spot, and one by one the boulders were removed. 

 Both terriers were found bitten through the throat, 

 just as they had fallen after a terrific encounter, 



