Chris Packham: like Owen Paterson, I had pet badgers. But their real place was in the wild

So Owen Paterson, the environment secretary, has defended his position on the badger cull by telling Radio 4's Today programme: "I'm probably the only person listening to this programme to have pet badgers asa child."

ShortcutsBadgersThe environment minister tries to defend his badger cull, but we both know from experience that these animals have an important role to play in Britain's countryside

So Owen Paterson, the environment secretary, has defended his position on the badger cull by telling Radio 4's Today programme: "I'm probably the only person listening to this programme to have pet badgers as a child."

Badgers do not make good pets. Like Paterson, I had some orphaned badgers as a child and I remember their brief company with fondness. My parents did not, as they were hugely destructive and laid waste to our small home and garden. I smuggled one into my bedroom one night and it got under the bed and into my Subbuteo box where it launched a vicious attack on Manchester City. Frances Lee was decapitated and Mike Summerbee completely dismembered. Several other players disappeared without trace and the badger was banished to its rightful residence in the garden.

You see, these animals are immensely powerful diggers and, as opportunistic foragers, have their sensitive noses in everything. Anything they cannot reach they dig for. Carpets, flower beds – all are ravaged.

The badger's place is in the wild, where it plays an important role as a small predator and omnivore. As any A-level biology student knows, you cannot remove species from such communities without ultimately destabilising them; each species has evolved to play an integral part in the complex web of life that keeps those ecosystems working. That's just one indirect reason why this badger cull is wrong. Inhumane methods, widespread public disapproval and top-rate scientific investigation proving it won't work are among the many others.

Only around 6% of wild badgers have TB, so taking them in as pets wouldn't help either, other than perhaps saving them from pointless slaughter in some places. In any case, it has been illegal to keep badgers as pets since the 1973 Badger Act, aside for taking in sick animals for rehabilitation before releasing them back into the wild.

No, the badger's place is out in the dark, doing its duty as a significant member of the UK's mammal fauna, keeping what remains of our ploughed and poisoned countryside healthy.

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