Burnham-On-Sea wildlife carers from Secret World Wildlife Rescue have rescued two badgers within half an hour of each other.
One had fallen from a wall on to the roof of a garage and the other was out in the sun having tried to dig under a house but stopped by the foundations.
Volunteer Graeme Thompson and Charlotte Wroe, Wildlife Release Manager, travelled to Crewkerne to help the two animals.
A spokeswoman says: “They went to the one on the roof first — it was hot and it had been stuck there all morning. He was fast asleep on the end of the roof when they arrived, but soon woke up and made his way to the rear of the roof where he was tearing tiles off.”
“They quickly realised it was not safe to attempt this alone so phoned the fire service who soon arrived and started planning. They were able to get onto the land behind the roof and attempted to catch it using a grasper.”
“The badger was in a state of panic and left the roof and went onto the lower rooftop. He seemed to have nowhere to go, so the fire rescue team attempted to reach him again, but the badger had better ideas.”
“He went up onto the beams of the taller rooftop and sat there stressing. The poor badger was able to have a little break — he was in the shade so he could cool down faster. After a while, Graeme grabbed his ladder, managed to get the grasper around his body and bring him back down to the ground. He was so tired and stressed, he didn’t make a peep in his cage.”
Graeme and Charlotte then went on to the second badger whilst the first was waiting in the vehicle with the air con.
“This one had decided to dig a hole and fall asleep inside at the edge of a house. The lady that found it was very worried because it was lying in the baking hot sun and would be until sunset.”
“If it continued to dig where it was it would be in the foundations of the house. This was meant to be a much easier rescue, but the shape of the hole and the quick reflexes of the badger made it quite difficult to get the grasper on him. He came out in the end and the lady was very glad to fill the hole and put some heavy flowerpots there so it wouldn’t happen again.”
“Both badgers are at Secret World Wildlife Rescue being monitored until we know what has happened to their territory.”
“We are assuming there has been some disturbance and these are from the same clan because they were found so close together.”
”The garage badger was very stiff and given pain relief by the vet. Both badgers will eventually return back to where they came from once healthy.”
“Secret World hopes that the local council will do something to prevent another badger landing on that rooftop as this is the third time this has happened. The first badger died, the second was stranded on the roof for 48hours before the RSPCA rescued it and this is the third badger this week. They would like to thank the local fire service for their quick response and continued support.”
