Wormingford Triplets

These three little cubs were brought to an NEEBG member for some TLC, after their mother was killed on the road. Our member found one cub in the road and after a further search, two more huddled together in the undergrowth. At first, it was touch and go as to whether the first little cub would survive, but were given hourly applications of rehydration fluids. Twenty four hours later there was much improvement and from then on all three went from strength to strength. From Essex they went on to Wildlife Aid in Leatherhead where they spent the rest of the summer growing into adulthood, along with other orphan cubs and were finally placed into an artificial sett in the autumn. To date they are all doing fine and have vacated the artificial sett for one of their own making.

Erythristic Badger

The call out came in the middle of the night - a badger hit by a car south east of Colchester.  On arrival it was apparent that the badger was a fairly rare erythristic, or ginger, animal. Not all badgers are black and white as can be seen by the picture. Erythristics are the result of a recessive gene.

Examination by a vet revealed no serious injuries, just concussion, so it was off to the rehab pen with a week's course of painkillers and a chance to sleep off the headache.  After a few days she was moving about and eating well, so the decision was made to get her back to her sett as soon as possible.

Injured Badger On The Strood

Towards the end of a cold wet Saturday afternoon a badger was found still alive on the Marshes of the Strood at west Mersea. The unconcious young male may have been caught in a rising tide or somehow fallen in the water.

It was a relatively easy task to place him in the carry cage as he was very cold and wet. He was then taken to the vets where attempts were made to raise his body temperature. Sadly after several hours his temperature had not improved and he died peacefully without regaining conciousness.

 

Smithy

In April a very vocal cub was found in a garden in Blackmore End it appeared unharmed and healthy - just lost. No setts were found within half a kilometer and despite enquiries no dead mothers were reported in the locality.

The cub was left in a box and observed to see if mum would appear. after sometime the cub went quiet and it appeared mum was not going to show. The cub was taken into care for warmth and overnight feeds. On closer inspection he was quite dehydrated and ridden with fleas. By mid morning he was snug on a heat pad and taking a bottle with much enthusiasm. A few days later he was chomping his way through scrambled egg and minced chicken!

So it was time to head off to Wildlife Aid in Leatherhead to join other orphaned cubs for rehoming.

The Pattiswick Badger

A member of the public stopped to look at a seemingly dead badger which was in fact not dead but unresponsive!

This female Badger was taken to the vets where examination revealed a lacerated tongue, chin and bottom lip after repair under anaesthetic the badger was discharged to rehab pen and after a few days was eating normally.

A few days later she was released watched by some group members and the lady who had reported the injured badger.

If you see a badger laying at the roadside please do not simply assume it is dead, it may be injured and unconcious .

 

Dudley

The dry weather in the summer of 2013 made foraging very difficult for badgers.

 Dudley, an erythristic (ginger) badger was rescued from a garden in Fingringhoe after being found collapsed and dehydrated.  Very underweight and struggling to walk he was transferred to our rehab pen after a vet check revealed nothing more serious than a bit of arthritis. For almost three weeks he ate everything put before him except, rather unusually, peanuts and was a very well behaved patient.

He was eventually returned to the garden where he was picked up and the owners agreed to look out for him and let us know if he appeared to be in trouble again.

Dudley went home after almost 3 weeks in our rehab pen.  Having been dehydrated to the extent he was just laying by the feet of the people who found him in Fingringhoe He had a can of dog food at 7.30pm every evening and supper at 10 ish which has consisted of dead chicks plus either peanut butter sandwiches or custard creams, apart from the night he had leftover liver and bacon!
He was the nicest little old man badger that I've ever had in the rehab pen - no malice in him at all, a real sweetie.He went off a treat into the back garden where he was originally picked him up and even popped back for a chick that was left for him when he was taken back.  The people in the cottage are going to look out for him.  Bless!

Left For Dead

This badger cub was picked up by a farmer who noticed, as he drove home at night, that what looked like a dead badger appeared to move.

 He stopped and realised that there appeared to be very little wrong with the cub and took him home to spend the night in a stable.
He called the Badger Hotline the next morning and we collected the badger and had him checked by a vet who confirmed he just needed some rest and recuperation in the rehab pen.  

Several days later he was returned to the area where he was picked up and quickly made his way to his sett nearby.