Badger cubs at the shelter
Essex: Happy coincidence helps to save badgers
By Chris Harris
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
11:24 AM
WHEN a badger rescuer needed help on what to do next, she turned to the internet.
Saved badger trioLouise Hartshorn, who found a starving cub near her Essex home, thought the right advice would be among the millions of pages on the world wide web.
But help was a lot closer to hand than she could ever have imagined – in the office next door.
The internet search turned up the name of Adrian Hinchliffe, who worked in the adjoining room to her at Anglian Water (AW), Stanway, near Colchester.
Mr Hinchliffe, barely known to Louise, helps run North East Essex Badger Group and is the Suffolk badger sett and casualty recorder.
Louise, a drinking water sampler at AW, said: “I couldn’t believe it, really. I hadn’t really spoken to Adrian before and I thought, ‘it can’t be him’. But when I rang the number it was and he was very excited.
“I couldn’t have really asked for a better colleague to talk to.”
Together the pair returned to the spot near Wormingford where Louise had found the cub. A search found two more starving cubs and Mr Hinchliffe believes their mother may have been a female badger that was found dead in the same area 10 days earlier.
He said: “I took all three cubs to Judy Massie from the badger group, who stayed up all night, feeding them every hour. The next day they had picked up a bit, so that afternoon I took them to the rescue centre.”
The siblings are now thriving at the Wildlife Aid animal sanctuary in Surrey – made famous by the TV programme, Wildlife SOS.
The badgers will stay with Simon and his team for some months until they are big enough to be released back into the wild. You can follow their progress on the charity’s webcam, which can be found at www.wildlifeaid.org.uk
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6 comments
Sorry Johnthebap, of course should have included Judy. Incidentally always thought cattle could be inoculated against Tuberculosis, am I right? Surely preferable to cullng these lovely creatures.
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JOHN BURLS
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Save the badger! @martha farquha: your comments never fail to make me chuckle.
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Rhino
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
@Johnthebap: I am against cruelty to animals, but it's probably not always done for "fun". Sometimes people kill badgers because they think they might be carriers of so-called "foot and mouth" disease.
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martha farquhar
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
"I took all three cubs to Judy Massie from the badger group, who stayed up all night, feeding them every hour" .... so I think, John Burls, we must not forget Judy Massie's efforts, and what a positive story to counter those about people who inflict cruelty and pain on animals for 'fun'.
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Johnthebap
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Aren't coincidences odd! I've posted comment on the same story as JOHN BURL S. Again!
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martha farquhar
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Well done Louise and Adrian. And what a fortunate coincidence.
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JOHN BURLS
Tuesday, May 17, 2011