Security Breach...Suspect: Badger

We have a badger living in our house and it's HUGE! We knew there was some kind of rodent living down in the garage/basement when we first moved in because the garage was covered from wall to wall with scat. When Christina moved into the basement, she swept that all out and sprayed bleach everywhere to eliminate any traces of the Hanta Virus since that is a huge problem around the park. Within the past week, we have noticed LARGE droppings all around the garage again and have been hearing loud banging noises down there, especially near the water heater.

A few days ago, the hole that is duct taped shut in the hallway near the bathroom was breached and it looked as though an animal had come into our upstairs through there. We even had signs of new teeth marks and uncovering of another hole in the bathroom, so we were already quite hesitant and much more guarded within the past few days than the rest since we have moved in. We were checking under our beds and in the closets before going to sleep, and Kendall's mousetrap under her bed still went off around five this morning but didn't catch the animal that ran away.

This morning began my four days off in a row and I was planning on sleeping in. Instead, I heard Christina run upstairs freaking out and then she called me when she thought I had walked to work. She saw a large furry creature downstairs and it ran towards the water heater in the back corner so she freaked and ran upstairs thinking it was a marmot or raccoon. We freaked out for a tiny bit and made sure all the doors and windows were closed and tried to figure out who to call about the marmot. She got her stuff together and headed out to go climbing when the large badger ran out from a hole under our house into the ditch on the side of our driveway. She screamed and I ran to the deck to see what the problem was and we saw the thing running away.

She took off and I hopped in the shower really fast so I could just get out of the house. I had my computer and books and laundry all ready to go so I wouldn't have to spend any extra time in that house. While I was in the shower though, I heard banging downstairs even louder than usual. As I got out, I heard the front door slam shut but didn't hear anyone inside. It ended up being a lady who works in the park who was there to drop something off. We walked around inside to see if there was anything there and then I took off and headed to the BCO so I could figure out who to call.

Kendall was in the BCO today for an observation/career enhancement day, so I was able to tell her everything that had happened this morning. Barry overheard and immediately got on the phone and alerted the heads of housing, resource management, and maintenance so we can get this fixed right away! I wrote down everything that has happened there since we moved in and we realized this might even explain the bones down in the basement!

Now, I have the day to explore around town and kill before I go pick up Kendall from work and we inspect the house. They offered us somewhere else to live for the next few days, but we really don't want to go through the hassle of moving. I really don't mind animals in the park and have been getting used to the moths and spiders in our house even (which for me is a BIG deal), and seeing a badger outside would be awesome!

It's just the fact that it's living IN our house that I'm way not ok with and hopefully that won't last much longer.