Monte Creek Winery is supporting BC badger conservation! All badgers in BC are of the subspecies, Taxidea taxus jeffersonii, and BC is the only place in the world where these badgers live. Badgers, in general, may not be endangered, but ours are. There are less than 350 badgers left in BC, meaning the subspecies is red-listed and ranked S2, or imperilled, by BC’s Conservation Data Centre.
At Monte Creek Winery we run a BC Badger Conservation Campaign every year to support this precious species.
Dangers to Badgers
BC badger conservation is actually doing slightly better than it was a decade ago, when BC badgers were categorized as critically imperilled, but they still need help. Badgers face dangers such as illegal trapping, vehicle traffic, and habitat and food loss.
Highway badger mortality is a big problem in the Interior of British Columbia. Kamloops is actually right in the middle of prime badger territory. Because badgers travel over large areas, they are often forced to cross highways. This leads to a high mortality rate due to vehicular traffic, particularly during July and August, when badgers are most active, looking for mates.
Benefits of Badgers
Badgers are incredibly helpful to have on a farm or other large property area because they tend to eat pests like rodents and even gophers, which have been known to dig small burrows that impact livestock and farm equipment. Not to mention, old badger burrows often become homes for species like cottontail rabbits and burrowing owls, so having badgers on your property increases biodiversity!
How We Are Helping
BC badger conservation is so important to us at Monte Creek Winery. They not only support biodiversity and sustainability, which is an issue near and dear to our hearts, but the stretch of highway outside of our winery between Lafarge and Pritchard is reportedly the worst in the province for badger mortality. Since we found out, we have been actively working towards reducing badger mortality rates by partnering with the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure as well as the Manager of the Wildlife Program to make badger travel safer. We have also raised money for Badgers in BC, and we have also been working with the BC Wildlife Park to raise money to help them support and care for their resident badger, Bloom.
How You Can Help
We have a variety of fundraisers we run annually in July that you can participate in. For details on the 2022 BC Badger campaign please check out our blog post.