The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. Mark Arsten (talk) 17:46, 3 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Killer badger[edit]

Killer badger (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log · Stats)

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Seem to fall foul of WP:EVENT. All sources are from a narrow time range in July 2007. No evidence of historical significance. Fails WP:PERSISTENCE and WP:EFFECT. Seems a classic example of WP:109PAPERS. Tijfo098 (talk) 07:18, 26 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

• keep Passes WP:PERSISTENCE, although current sourcing is indeed just picked from the same slack news day. Looking at a more cryptozoology-focussed text, maybe the Fortean Times, should turn up some broader references. Andy Dingley (talk) 09:35, 26 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • I can't find anything about this topic in Google Books. Based on what sources do you claim it "passes WP:PERSISTENCE"? Tijfo098 (talk) 09:39, 26 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • I was in Iraq at the time. There were a variety of rumors all around the same theme (which started as far back as '05). Interestingly, I spoke to a british officer who was a bit of an amateur naturalist, and he had a hypothesis that partial reflooding of Iraq's southern marshes (which had been drained by Saddam Hussein to punish the marsh arabs and to deny other political enemies a hiding place) had created habitat for the honey badgers, whose numbers had exploded roughly around the time foreign troop numbers were ramped up in southern Iraq. I liked this elegant theory, but it was never tested. Nothing further has been added to the brief flurry of sensationalistic news reports surrounding the very, very common phenomenon of stressed populations believing bizarre things, particularly when occupied by foreign powers, and nothing ever will be.Bali ultimate (talk) 13:20, 26 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Can you provide something to back up the assertion that it passes WP:PERSISTENCE? Currently the sourcing is from a rather restricted time period, which is not indicative of passing PERSISTENCE. IRWolfie- (talk) 21:18, 26 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

• Delete - Searching for sources, both looking for references to a "Killer Badger" in Iraq, as well as the "Basra Badger" as it is also known as, I'm finding nothing that, like said by the nom, doesn't just fall into a very narrow time frame in 2007. Like Tijfo098 said, this is a pretty clear case of a minor blip that gained some news coverage on a slow day, but completely fails WP:PERSISTENCE and WP:EFFECT. Rorshacma (talk) 17:28, 26 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

• Delete: All the mentions I could find on multiple Google searches were published over a few day period in the middle of July, 2007. Which is the the peak of silly season for newspapers as there is generally less real news to report during the summer vacation period. I'm seeing no evidence of lasting coverage. Fails WP:EVENT and WP:PERSISTANCE. Dominus Vobisdu (talk) 22:42, 26 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
• Keep per WP:N. --173.241.225.163 (talk) 14:38, 27 September 2012 (UTC) Struck, likely banned editor. Amalthea 18:03, 27 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • This IP is known for !vote stacking in AfDs [1]. Tijfo098 (talk) 15:50, 27 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
• I haven't looked at the sourcing enough to argue for keeping (although I'd really like to see this kept), but surely a merge to honey badger would be a better option than deletion? Mark Arsten (talk) 15:47, 27 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • It's already mentioned there with wp:due weight. Merging all of this would be excessive. Tijfo098 (talk) 15:52, 27 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • This article is a tedious repetition of the same facts over and over in order to get it over the word count need to spam the main page with another DYK on a perennial stub. Almost all information in it is repeated two or three times. For example:
    • "The killer badger is a creature found in a number of modern urban legends from Basra (Al Basrah) province, Iraq, where it was said to have attacked both people"
    • "rumors began circulating in Basra City aying that UK troops stationed in the city's airport had released a number of dangerous man-eating creatures "
    • "the stories began to circulate a number of local farmers produced a"
    • " the honey badger has long been known to inhabit southern Iraq"
    • "Basra's veterinary hospital where they were identified as being honey badgers, also known as Al-Ghirayri or al-Girta, a nocturnal carnivore and a member of the Mustelidae family."
    • "The director of Basra's veterinary hospital, Mushtaq Abdul-Mahdi, pointed out that the animals had appeared in the area prior to 1986, and are known locally as Al Girta."
  • Etc. Tijfo098 (talk) 18:00, 27 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
• Comment. None of the sources cited even use the phrase "killer badger". The title appears to be basically WP:OR; "man-eating badger" would have been more appropriate as far as the myth goes. Tijfo098 (talk) 17:07, 27 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Conspiracy theories-related deletion discussions. — Frankie (talk) 17:44, 1 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Events-related deletion discussions. — Frankie (talk) 17:44, 1 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Iraq-related deletion discussions. — Frankie (talk) 17:44, 1 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of News-related deletion discussions. — Frankie (talk) 17:44, 1 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Popular culture-related deletion discussions. — Frankie (talk) 17:44, 1 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Paranormal-related deletion discussions. — Frankie (talk) 17:44, 1 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Science-related deletion discussions. — Frankie (talk) 17:44, 1 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

• Delete as others have alluded to above, this looks like it published to fluff out a slow news day back in July 2007. All the coverage I could find on it came from that week. No lasting coverage doesn't bode well for its supposed significance as an urban legend. ThemFromSpace 22:06, 1 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Yes, amusingly enough this is one of the rare cases when the sources themselves admit to the story being part of the silly season. From [2]: 'The Times describes the story as a "monster myth" which comes at a time "when newspapers traditionally struggle to find meatier news with which to fill their pages". It still devotes a page lead to the tale and an editorial.' Tijfo098 (talk) 22:27, 1 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete Fails WP:EVENT, no WP:PERSISTENCE. IRWolfie- (talk) 22:20, 1 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.