NOTES ON SOME ESSEX BADGER MORTALITIES 241
10. Adult—♂, wt. 20 lb (9.1 kg). Road death at Billericay
(TQ/689962) 29.4.1969. Multiple injuries including rupture of the
spleen and puncture of one lung by fractured ribs. Ectoparasites :
T. melis, Ixodes canisuga. Endoparasites: M. patens, Capillaria
sp. (from stomach). Dimensions : head, body and tail 32 in( 81 cm),
tail 6 in (15 cm).
11. Adult—♂, Road death on Southend Arterial Road (TQ/
611889)3.5.1969. Multiple injuries to head and chest. Ectopara-
sites : T. melis, P. melis, Ixodes canisuga. Endoparasites: M.
patens. No further details.
Road accidents were the causes of death to animals 2, 3, 4, 5, 10
and 11. Definite causes are not known for the other individuals
but human interference is suspected for individuals 8 and 9,
because of cranial bruising in the case of the former and the
coincidence of freshly blocked holes for the latter. Individual 7
may have died from organochloride insecticide poisoning; the sett
adjoined a field which had been recently worked. Jeffries (1969)
noted earth in the stomach and mouth of individuals examined
from East Anglia containing high doses of dieldrin and commented
upon March and April being the months when deaths attributed
to organochloride poisoning occurred.
We are grateful to Mr W. W. Page for letting us use some of his
information on the earlier investigations, to the many people who
kindly assisted in supplying the corpses, and to Mr G. B. Thompson
for ectoparasite identifications.
Reference
Jefferies, D. J. (1969). Causes of badger mortality in eastern counties of
England. J. Zool., Lond., 157: 429-436.
The authors would be grateful for information on Badger deaths in
the future, their current addresses are: (A. B.), 9 St. Albans Road,
Coopersale, Epping. (R.A.D.C), Homefield, Homefield Close, Epping.—Ed.