Adorable badger cub nursed back to life by High Peak rescuers

The male omnivore - found “cold and grey” underneath a shed - had to be nursed constantly for 24 hours in a battle to save his life.

Debbie Bailey, who took him into her Furness Vale home, described how she took on the role of a mother sow to keep the shivering cub alive - sleeping “not one wink”.

Badger-lover Debbie had to feed the suckling infant a special formula and stimulate his bowel and bladder movements every hour as his mother would as he was incubated to warm his body.

“Knackered” Debbie, who has rescued badgers for 16 years, told how she had never cared for one so young and described the experience as “fascinating”.

She said: “It’s a real look into their world and a big learning curve for us.”

Former nurse Debbie, who is chair of High Peak Badger Group, said when the baby badger - named Valentine - was brought to her “he was just about alive”.

Valentine had been found alone - the only survivor of a litter of three - while his mother had not been seen for three days.

The little fighter - now starting to forage for his own food - is currently in the care of a Shropshire wildlife sanctuary.

There, he will be socialised with a group of other badgers before being vaccinated against Bovine TB and released in Derbyshire.

Debbie, 53, who says she is known locally as “the badger woman” told how, due to climate change, High Peak Badger Group were rescuing up to one badger a week during summer months.

She said: “Over the last three years we’re doing more and more rescues - as sets are flooded and the badgers starve during summer droughts when the ground is too hard to forage.”

Debbie, who coordinates badger vaccinations against TB for Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, is fundraising to buy an incubator for the struggling creatures and pay for their TB tests.

She also hopes to donate £1,000 to Shropshire’s Cuan Wildlife Rescue - who are nurturing Valentine and preparing him for release back into the wild.

You can make a donation at www.gofundme.com/f/badger-cub-incubator.

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