‘Battleford Badger’ making recurring appearances in town: Mayor

A badger has been spotted in the town of Battleford and was captured on camera Sunday roaming through the St. Vital School grounds.

According to Mayor Ames Leslie, the “Battleford Badger” was first spotted on Friday, with reports coming to the town office of the critter throughout the weekend.

A video was posted of the animal on Facebook on Sunday by user Lilly Marie Bugler.

“Our public safety team, a couple (of) times, have removed this badger from the community. It seems to be making its way back in,” Leslie said. “Friday of last week, I think the first report came in of this badger. The quote was, ‘He was sunbathing beside the post office.’

“He just seems to be coming back.”

Leslie said the badger has been making a “reoccurring appearance” around the town, with both conservation officers and their offices contacted about the animal.

Leslie said badgers aren’t the cute and cuddly animals they may seem to be.

“They are very aggressive. If you want to think about the badgers, how they’re portrayed within Disney, the grumpy, growly, kind of very aggressive type of animal— it is fully true,” he said.

“Please don’t approach this animal. Please contact the town, the public safety officer or a conservation officer immediately. Please don’t take matters into your own hands, as they can be very aggressive in nature.”

Leslie said they are approaching the animal as humanely as possible rather than destroying it at the site. That doesn’t mean that the town’s strategy will be keeping the status quo, however.

“If it refuses to leave, then we’ll leave that decision up to conservation officers,” he said.

Leslie said no name has been coined for the animal as of yet, but admitted that the “Battleford Badger” “does have a ring to it.”