A baby badger is recovering after being found in distress at the roadside in York.
The female cub is being looked after at the Yorkshire Swan and Wildlife Rescue Centre at Barlow after being spotted by Emma Farley of Acomb during a bike ride.
“I was just a few miles into my ride when I saw something lying at the side of the road, I got closer and found a little badger which was curled up.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect to see any signs of life. But taking a closer look, her little eyes actually looked at me.”
Emma runs a hedgehog rescue service in Acomb. She is quite an expert in how to save them but has little knowledge of what makes a badger tick.
“I could see as I got closer a little bit of movement, but then I realised that she was shivering, a sign of hypothermia,” she said.
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“My first thought was get get the badger off the road. And then secondly, find help.
“But at the same time, as I know from hedgehog rescue, hypothermia and dehydration, plus just the shock of being injured will kill pretty quickly so I wrapped her up in my coat because there was some rain forecast, you just never know do you even on the nicest days.”
Clipped by a car
There were limited options in terms of finding somewhere to take her. She called the Yorkshire Swan and Wildlife Rescue who came to her aid.
“Most people would probably know it as a swan rescue service but I know because of the work I do that they do take in other wildlife. So I was very lucky they came and picked her up in about an hour and a half.”
Emma says she sat with the badger, who as she warmed up become much more feisty and a bit more agitated.
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“I spent quite a bit of the time actually trying to sort of swaddle her to keep her from getting away. Badgers, even small ones, have a very nasty nip, you could have a finger off!
“I put part of the coat over her head. Darkness is always really good. And for any wildlife throwing a blanket or a coat or whatever you have just helps to keep them calm. And eventually she did exhaust herself and drifted back off into sleep.”
The badger had to br on a drip for 24 hours as she had become very dehydrated.
Emma thinks she had been clipped by a car but luckily there were no serious internal injury so she actually made a quite remarkable recovery considering the pretty much half dead state she was in when found”
“What I didn’t realise was they do smell. So my coat, well I had to wash it a couple of times to get rid of the pong. But in my mind it’s worth it.”
The badger’s sett could not be found and she will now move on to another rescue centre with 14 other badger cubs.
They will all eventually be released to an artificial sett thanks to the Badger Trust.
“A very happy outcome for my girl!” said Emma. “Thank you to everyone who has sent their well wishes and so glad she made a full recovery.
“The biggest shout out to Yorkshire Swan and Wildlife Rescue for their wonderful care. Have a brilliant life and stay safe cub.”