The Terran badger: Telling the right story

Isabella Clarke

The Ecological Citizen Vol 9 No 1 2026: epub-142-1 to 6

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First published: 25 October 2025 | PERMANENT URL | DOWNLOAD CITATION IN RIS FORMAT

Abstract

This paper offers an alternative to the anthropocentric and moralizing conceptualizations of badgers as villains, vectors, vermin or victims. Rather than arguing that these mustelids threaten dairy farms, hedgehogs and songbirds, or claiming that innocent badgers are instead wise and generous, the paper contends that badgers should be valued simply for being badgers. These mammals increase the biodiversity of their locale and demonstrate a way of being that is deeply entangled in the life of the land upon which they live. Their bodies carry the evidence of polluted earth, while their habits offer testimony of the relative health of an ecosystem. This paper suggests that thinking with badgers can help us to conceive of ecocentric ways of being in the land.

Keywords

Agriculture, Animal ethics, Becoming ecocentric, Biodiversity, Ecological living

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