BBC News – Hampshire workmen paint white lines around dead badger.

Hampshire workmen paint white lines around dead badger

The dead badger has been removed and the lines will be painted
Workmen painting white lines on a road left a gap for a dead badger because they said it was not their responsibility to move it.

The animal had been killed about a week before on the A338 near Downton, on the Hampshire-Wiltshire border.

Hampshire County Council said the workers did what they thought “was best” because it is the district council’s job to remove carcasses.

The badger has now been removed and the painting will be completed on Friday.

The county council said there would be no extra cost to taxpayers because the company was being paid a fixed rate for the job.

Businessman Kevin Maul was on his way home from work when he noticed the break in the lines.

He said: “I couldn’t quite believe my eyes when I saw this poor old badger who had been there over a week.

“I’d seen him every day as I went by and wondered if he was going to be picked up.

“Then on Friday I drove home to see his body between the lines – they had painted the road, but left a gap where he lay.”