A STOURBRIDGE couple have spoken of their nightmare battle against badgers which left their garden like a “lunar landscape” and saw them having to fork out thousands to evict the bothersome beasts.

Lucy and Mark Davis, of South Road, say they are hopeful they have now won the war but the 12-month fight to reclaim their garden has taken its toll and cost them a small fortune.

“It’s been awful,” 44-year-old Mark told the News.

The couple had to enlist the services of a private firm of ecologists and obtain a licence from Natural England in order to try and expel a family of five badgers who had taken over their garden, as the animals and their setts are protected under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.

Lucy, also 44, said: “We’ve lived in fear of putting a foot wrong. It carries a criminal sentence if you tamper with a sett in any way, or block a hole.”

A one-way gate was installed by consultant ecologists CRC Ecology to help rid the countryside creatures from the sett they had dug at the bottom of the garden and cameras were installed to keep an eye on the animals in the event they attempted to re-enter.

After months of sleepless nights – the couple, who have three young boys who were unable to use the garden at the height of the problem, say they are cautiously optimistic the badgers have gone - apart from one persistent male that has continued to break through the fence.

But they live in fear they will return.

Lucy said: “Although we’ve cleared them out we don’t know if they’re going to come back.

“It’s been like a war, it’s really affected our life in the last year. We’ve just been at our wits end. We’ve had sleepless nights; you wake up in the night and think ‘what’s going on outside? It’s been so stressful.”

The couple contacted Norton councillor Colin Elcock for help with the problem and he has been collating an-ever growing list of constituents who say they are being plagued by badgers.

He said: “They’ve been migrating from the crematorium at the top of South Road and they’ve gradually spread into the allotments, up The Broadway, up South Road and I've had reports of them in the Old Quarter.

"Badgers are being allowed to breed freely and if we're not careful we're going to have an endemic problem. Because they're protected they just get carte blanch to breed and go where they want and nobody seems to want to take any action.

"We don't want to see them killed but what we want the government to do is try and move them out from the urban environment into a more natural environment - through a one-way gate into a holding system."

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, however, has told Dudley Council that Natural England does not licence the removal of badgers from their home range as they say it poses a risk to the animals themselves and could spread disease to wildlife and livestock.

Cllr Elcock, however, said: "Where there's a will there's a way. We want the government to start thinking outside the box so they can develop new ideas and strategies to deal with this problem.

"It will be an even bigger problem and much more expensive if they don't deal with it."

Both the councillor and Mr and Mrs Davis stress they are not anti-badgers - just the destruction they cause. In fact the couple are members of the Wildlife Trust!

Cllr Elcock said: "It's not that we're against badgers. But we've got a problem and it's affecting my constituents who can't do anything about it."

And, although the Davis's may have finally beaten the badgers in their garden, the councillor said: "I worry about where they are what they're doing to someone else's property."

Stourbridge MP Margot James said: "There is a growing problem with badgers in Stourbridge.

"It used to be a problem on the borders with Worcestershire and Staffordshire but they have come further into town. I really do feel huge sympathy for any resident who has this problem.

"I have written to ministers in DEFRA and the Department for Communities and Local Government but so far I have only been able to help people via advice on prevention and the removal of setts."

She said the best advice she could give to people who are aware of badgers in the neighbourhood is to consider taking preventative action such as installing electric fences or below ground metal fencing to try and keep them at bay - and she added: "They're very determined animals, normal fences won't keep them out."

Cllr Elcock, who is also urging people not to feed badgers that may wander into the garden, is now keen to find out just how many others in his ward are affected by the problem.

He can be contacted on 07730 882877 or email colinelcock@googlemail.com.

Residents battling to keep badgers out of their gardens are also advised to contact Natural England for free advice.

A spokesman for the organisation said: "Badgers are a protected species, but action to close badger setts can be taken where serious damage is being caused to properties, so long as the welfare of the badgers is not compromised.

"Natural England can issue licences in cases where disturbing or destroying a badger’s habitat is unavoidable, however where possible we work with householders to explore other options, such as improving or repairing fencing to keep badgers out.”

To contact Natural England email wildlife@naturalengland.org.uk or call 0845 601 4523.