Badgers have adapted successfully to urban environments across the UK and parts of Europe, but their presence generates conflicts with gardeners and drivers, and their welfare is affected by urban hazards in complex ways.
Urban badger welfare is shaped by a unique combination of food abundance and novel hazards. Coexistence strategies that reduce road mortality — wildlife crossing structures, reflective road markers — are the highest-impact welfare interventions. Humane approaches to garden coexistence, including accepting some digging and using non-lethal deterrents for specific areas, reflect growing recognition of badgers as valuable urban wildlife.