RSPCA rescues badger from illegally covered hole
RSPCA Inspector Justin Stubbs was called out to a public bridleway near the village of Morborne, near Peterborough. A couple out walking noticed that the badger sett had been tampered with and then found the trapped animal. Inspector Stubbs affirms that there were at least 20 entrances to the sett, and all of these had been deliberately blocked by earth and sticks.
The badger had managed to get her head, front legs and chest out but had become trapped at the hips, unable to move backwards or forwards. According to Inspector Stubbs it appears the badger had been struggling to escape “for a long time.”
“Normally, when I approach a badger, even a badly injured one, it will try to escape and become very active. This one however, to begin with put up little fight, indicating exhaustion.”
Owing to the serious nature of this offence Cambridgeshire Police were contacted, and an officer assisted Mr Stubbs in sawing at the branches and digging at the earth for an hour until the badger was finally freed.
Inspector Stubbs added: “After a good amount of effort, mainly on the badger’s part, she was free, spent a minute or so getting her bearings and presumably ridding herself of a horrendous case of pins and needles, and ran off deeper into the copse.
Had it not been for a couple of local walkers knowing enough about the local wildlife that they realised something was wrong, this badger would certainly have died.”
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
