A WALKER who found four skinned badgers in an entrance to forestry on the outskirts of Ballina village has described the situation as “weird” and “cruel”.
Local man Joe McManus initially thought he had seen a live badger when he was out walking about a mile and a half outside the lakeside village earlier this month but on another walk last Friday December 13, he realised the situation was far more sinister when he took a closer look.
He told the Limerick Post: “I normally do the walk around there and about two weeks ago, I noticed something in the ditch. I thought it was just a badger. Then, when I was out walking last Friday, I had a closer look and saw that it was skinned. I then saw a few more skins just off the road.
“There were four of them skinned altogether and dumped on a mound at an opening into the forestry and it just seems so cruel what could be happening to these badgers.”
Mr McManus described the situation as “weird” and said he made several attempts to contact animal welfare services, only to be put through to an answering machine on all but one occasion.
“You would see a bit of wildlife in the area. You’d see a few pheasants and badgers but this seems a bit strange and very cruel”, he said.
