The British badger feasts mainly on earthworms, small mammals (including hedgehogs) and other insects, making it the UK's largest wild carnivore*. It is estimated that 50,000 badgers are killed in road accidents every year. Further population losses have occurred in the last few years due to a controversial cull, devised as an attempt the spread of bovine TB. The benefits of this much contested cull remain uncertain.
*They do occasionally eat plants.