Abstract
Understanding factors affecting the number of badgers (Meles meles) captured around the setts, latrine and passage areas, is of considerable application in a context of animal tuberculosis research. These factors could be used to define and develop strategies to control tuberculosis, to estimate badgers densities and, in the future, to manage vaccination programs. This study analyzes the trappability of 49 badgers from 2015 to 2017 and describes the capture rate in comparison with these variables: season of the year, meteorological temperature and precipitation, number of night traps and different trapping habitats. The highest capture rate (2.76 badgers/100 night traps) was obtained in late winter-early spring, which could be directly related to the availability of food. Among the adult badgers captured, the females were trapped in higher proportion (63%) than males (37%), which could be related to a greater involvement of the females in the search for food. The best capture rate was obtained around of the setts and no statistical significance was found with respect to the meteorological variables studied.
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