[Originally posted 1 February 2015] “What’s the deal with you and badgers?” It’s a fair question, and one I’m asked not infrequently by both longtime friends and new acquaintances. Admittedly, badgers are pretty far removed from my other writings and scholarship–and in some ways my badger interest is a seemingly eccentric departure. After all, I’ve never worked with wildlife in any sustained way, although I spent much of my early life roaming the Pikes Peak…