LONDON, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Badgers, a protected species in England, are digging up graves in an ancient church burial ground dating back to the 1100s, the church's vicar says.
The Rev. Simon Shouler of St. Remigius Church, Long Clawson, Leicestershire, says at least four graves have been disturbed with the animals digging up leg bones and a skull, The Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.
The churchyard carried out burials for 800 years before closing in the early 1900s because it was full.
Because it is illegal to kill badgers or destroy their dens, attempts to remove the animals have been thwarted by the group, Natural England, and Shouler is forced to patrol the burial grounds, picking up stray bones and storing them for later re-interment collectively in a new grave, the newspaper said.
Shouler said, "The parish council began seeking advice and someone from the local county badger group came around and told us about special gates that allow the badgers out but does not allow them back in.
"The idea was that they would be relocated to a nearby field.
"However, Natural England and English Heritage got involved and ruled that there might have been a medieval house on the adjacent field once, and so the land is protected.
"It lacks any common sense but sadly reflects the bureaucracy of modern life."
Moving the badgers could further damage to the protected site.
"This is a complex issue where finding a solution to satisfy everyone is hard," a spokesman for English Heritage said.
