Reader letter - Hold out hand of friendship

At the age of 87, she’d had a long run on this planet, and had recently said, in a period of lucidity: “I’m as old as God's dog now."

We are well accustomed to death here in the wild, us badgers are so likely to succumb to oncoming traffic, and are vulnerable to badger culling, adverse weather conditions, traps and snares.

Every time I see a departed badger by the roadside, or in the woods, I say a silent prayer and say ‘there but for the grace of God, go I’.

You humans are less matter of fact about death, even though, let's face it, every man, beast and brock has an expiry date on this earth.

You say things like ‘oh, someone has to do it’, when you hear that someone is a funeral director, undertaker, grave digger or mortician.

Some of you even cross the road when you see someone who has just lost a loved one.

How selfish is that, putting your own embarrassment before their grief, when they need your support which you should offer to them?

That said it is understandable that they should feel awkward as death is such a taboo subject.

Well it shouldn't be, it's going to come to us all, after all!

You don't have to shower the bereaved with trite platitudes and clichés, just show them you care and say you are there for them. That's all!

There is a book for children called Badger's Parting Gift, which features the story of an old and tired badger – no, not me – who is coming to the end if his lifespan.

This book is there to help teach children about death, but do forgive me for not yet having checked if it is still in print.

I do hope it is because it sounds ideal to me, and I'm not just saying that because it's about one of my own kind.

Some children, very sadly, are exposed to death at a young age if they lose a parent, grandparent or sibling, and they all deal with it in their own way – as, of course, do adults, and us brocks.

If I lost Boudicca or any of my cubs, I would be truly broken, as I love them with all my heart, but life has to go on.

I will always miss my elderly owner so. Her disconsolate daughter will miss her even more so, as she was her world.

It is still very raw for her, but I am there for her; she takes solace in the beauty of wildlife and nature.

Hey, my talents know no bounds, I am even a bereavement counsellor now.

So, hold out the hand of friendship to anyone you know who is bereaved.

They will appreciate it more than you will ever know.

And if they tell you to so and so off, then at least you will have tried.

Boris the badger,

with help from Cathy Langan,

S8