Badgers have kept disabled woman trapped in her mouldy home but council say they are protected specie

A woman says she has been made a prisoner in her own home - because of badgers. When Rae Boxley moved into the house, in 2011, she noticed a dip - approximately two-feet in diameter - in the lawn. She says she was advised not to go on the lawn after council officials saw the damage - but 12 years later things have got worse.

Despite alerting her local council to the issue on multiple occasions, she says little has been done to help her, and as badgers are protected by law, her local council are ‘very limited’ in what they can do. Ms Boxley, 51, lives with spinal myelopathy, which leaves her at risk of fatal injury from even a gentle fall. She says she is unable to leave her home because of the condition – and can’t even use her garden as badger activity has left the surface uneven.

Rae, from Stourbridge, West Midlands, said: “If I was to go out the back on my crutches and my legs gave way, I could fall. It doesn’t matter if it’s gentle or heavy, I could end up paralysed or dead.” She describes feeling ‘suicidal’ and ‘can’t bare’ another year confined indoors.

Rae says that in 2021, Dudley Council promised they would make a small area of her garden safe to use - but no work has started, she claims, leaving her confined to a small chair positioned next to the back door.

Councillor Steve Clark, deputy leader of Dudley Council, said: “We have had several meetings with the tenant since it was first brought to our attention but the difficulty is that badgers are protected by law and are very difficult to move. We paid for two different ecologists to carry out surveys to see what could be done but unfortunately the options we have are very limited. We would of course be happy to meet with Miss Boxley again to discuss her concerns.”