Sir, – Although we have a plethora of badly behaved introduced and uninvited species in Ireland, the American badger Taxidea taxus is not one of them, to my knowledge. They are easily confused with the European badger Meles meles but The Irish Times should be able to check that you have got the right species in view in your photograph (“How do I get rid of a badger visiting my garden?”, Gardening Q&A, March 9th).
Of course, it is possible that there really are American badgers running about Wicklow digging up lawns and rabbiting on about how to Make America Great Again, and waving Old Glory. I hope not. American badgers have very different habits from our long-term resident European badger, and introduced American species, if the grey squirrel and mink are anything to go by, are bad news. – Yours, etc,
IAN MONTGOMERY,
(Emeritus Professor of Animal Ecology,
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Queen’s University Belfast),
Castlewellan,
Co Down.
