(Old-school giant badger picture--the one where he's leering over the log--courtesy of World's Largest Roadside Attractions, which is chock-full of fiberglass treasures nationwide.)

You see, the World's Largest Badger used to be even MORE ferocious. (I know, hard to imagine!) Tall and menacing, he loomed over a gas station shaped like a log (with a not-so-menacing giant squirrel on top of it) until 1998, when the cruel winds of fate blew into town and turned the log from a gas station/tourist trap into...

The storage shed for a strip club.

The badger was cut down in size (I'm not sure how much of him is buried in the ground, exactly) and buried in a spot overlooking the highway. Then, at some point, the entrepreneurial spirit of the exotic dance club operators told them to build a fence in front of him. (?) Now, when one drives by "Northern EXposure" on Hwy 45, all they get is a mere glimpse of the badger from the road...

This is what happens when you pave paradise and put up a strip club.

But still, I am thankful that the proprietors of "Northern EXposure" kept our ol' buddy the badger at all--and hey, at least they haven't hung bras & g-strings off his claws or anything like that.