Bringing up Badgers

Today’s guest blog is from April Sorley and the amazing team at the SSPCA national wildlife rescue centre at Fishcross. Every year they take on the challenge of rearing rescued badger cubs with the eventual aim of releasing them into the wild. This is a very hard and time consuming job but as you will read below, it can be very rewarding.

On the 15th of February this year we got the shock of our lives at the wildlife centre, we received a call about an orphaned badger cub who had been dragged from her sett and her family by a potential dog or fox. We couldn’t believe it. At the centre we usually receive calls/orphans around April/May when young badgers are venturing out their sett, not February when they are potentially newborn!

We have a Roald Dahl theme at the moment and when she arrived, she was named “Lavender”.

Arriving at 250g this little one was around 1 week old and needed feeding every 3 hours including through the night, these night feeds lasted 3 weeks before she was able to settle and sleep for longer. Giving myself a bit of a break from getting up through the night!

Whilst I was rearing Lavender, on the 3rd of March we received a phone call about a potential badger nest disturbance where there was 3 Cubs calling out with no sign of mum. With no family nearby and the Cubs distressed and hungry, the decision was made to lift the Cubs and bring them to the centre.

It was 2 girls and a boy, around 4 weeks old, the same age as lavender, welcoming “Peach”, “Violet” and “Bean”. I took the 3 badgers home that night including Lavender to try and get the gang feeding properly on their bottles which was proving a struggle compared to Lavender.

Four days later the group were all feeding well and gaining weight where we made the decision to spilt the litter to relive the workload off one person and ensure lavender had a buddy to develop with.

My colleague Juanita, took on the job of rearing violet and peach and I grouped bean with lavender so that she would have a play mate as she developed too which is vital for badgers growth and mental stimulation.

With all the badgers only 4 weeks old at this point, we were still a long way off weaning with potentially another 5-6 weeks around the clocks feeds at home.

The group continued to thrive and enjoy their milk, reducing the milk feeds as they grew and began to wean at around 8 weeks.

In total Lavender was around 9 weeks rearing at home and Violet, Peach and Bean around 5 weeks, a mammoth undertaking for staff.

Observing them all grow, learn to walk, start to bite, the range of vocalisations, the change in fur and the bond we had with them during rearing has been a career highlight for myself and Juanita. What a privilege to rear such special animals and continue to rehabilitate this badger family for a second chance at life in the wild!

On the 5th of March we received a call about a female badger who had given birth in some hay bales and run off leaving her babies behind, we gave mum the opportunity to come back and move her babies before lifting them. Mum did return, taking what babies she could but leaving one behind, introducing “Pelly”.

Pelly arrived at the centre on the 6th of March, we were not prepared for her size or age…she was 2 days old and 72grams! The whole team in absolute disbelief at this little fighter!!

My colleague Carys writes “I took on the task of hand rearing her which involved round the clock milk feeds, including 3am feeds for a full month! Watching her grow and develop week by week has been amazing and very emotional; coming into her black and white colourings, listening to her range of badger noises develop and watching her play and run around! She is now 9 weeks old and is grouped with two other badger cubs that needed reared; Sponge and Boggis, who she loves playing with and all three are starting to nibble on some solids, porridge being the favourite! All three will be introduced to Lavender and the gang once they are bigger, off milk feeds and eating independently! Hand rearing Pelly and seeing her happy and healthy with her two badger friends has been one of the proudest achievements of my life and releasing them all into the wild when the time comes will be something we will never forget!”.