The Protection of Badgers Act (The Badger Act) is primarily aimed at protecting the welfare of wild badgers, a species that has been persecuted in the UK for many years. Like the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981, it has specific provisions for the rehabilitation of badgers, or their euthanasia:
Protection of Badgers Act 1992, Section 6. General exceptions.
A person is not guilty of an offence under this Act by reason only of—
(a) taking or attempting to take a badger which has been disabled otherwise than by his act and is taken or to be taken solely for the purpose of tending it;
(b) killing or attempting to kill a badger which appears to be so seriously injured or in such a condition that to kill it would be an act of mercy;