Yes, There Are Badgers in Texas (and No, They Aren’t Friendly)

When it comes to encounters with badgers—a relatively common mammal, but one so rarely seen that most Texans don’t even know they are native to the state—North Padre Island resident Tom Howe has a good story. One morning last August, the 67-year-old was driving along Padre Island National Seashore after a fishing outing. When he saw something moving between the surf and the dunes, he thought it was a raccoon or maybe a coyote pup. But the wet, bedraggled creature digging in the sand “put its head up when I got closer, and I go, ‘Oh, that’s a badger. What’s it doing out here?’ ”Howe, a retired United Methodist minister, had only recently learned that badgers lived in the area, but he knew seeing one in…

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