Badger rescued from basement in Hastings

Rescuers from East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (WRAS) were called out to a badger which had fallen into the basement of a flat in Magdalen Road Hastings at 11am on Monday.
Badger in basement 1 SUS-191009-131751001Badger in basement 1 SUS-191009-131751001
Badger in basement 1 SUS-191009-131751001

On arrival rescuers found the young badger at the bottom of the basement unable to climb out.

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Rescuer Trevor Weeks MBE, founder of East Sussex WRAS, climbed down into the basement armed with a large blanket, dog grasper and badger cage.

Badger in basement 2 SUS-191009-131831001Badger in basement 2 SUS-191009-131831001
Badger in basement 2 SUS-191009-131831001

“The badger was luckily nice and co-operative but clearly very wary of what I was doing. I placed the cage in front of him and covered it with the blanket so it made a nice dark cave, hoping the badger would then want to run inside and hide. With a bit of encouragement the badger did exactly that, making my life so much easier” said Trevor.

The badger was lifted out of the basement but as it was daylight it could not be released without risking it running in front of cars and getting run over.

“He was bedded down for the day at WRAS’s Casualty Centre at Whitesmith where he tucked into jam and peanut butter sandwiches as well as dog food and biscuits” said Lead Casualty Manager Katie Nunn Nash.

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As badgers are territorial they have to be released very close to where they were found to avoid any territorial conflicts.

Katie said: “We decided to release the badger a few metres away in a side street and returned him at around midnight as the roads were nice and quiet. After letting the badger spend a few minutes to look round and realise where he was, the cage door was opened and he was allowed to run off home. Once he realised the door was open and knew where he was he shot off along the road.”

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