Raising a baby badger

Badger cubs (Meles meles) are rarely seen, because they spend most of their early life deep inside the sett. So when someone does find one alone, in daylight and out in the open, it is often a sign that something is wrong. Raising a badger cub takes months and requires the company of other badgers, so the most important part of this article is how to tell if a cub is orphaned, how to help it in the first few hours and who to hand it over to.

Badgers give birth in the sett between January and March, and the cubs first come above ground only at around eight to ten weeks old, mostly in spring. Even then they come out at dusk, close to the entrance and with the adults. A cub wandering alone in daylight, far from the sett, is therefore very likely in trouble.

• If it looks healthy and lively and its eyes are open, watch it from a distance for a few hours, ideally overnight. Its mother may be looking for it.
• Help is needed if the cub is weak, chilled, crying constantly, covered in flies or injured, or if the mother has been killed on a nearby road.
• Do not stand next to it or touch it unnecessarily – human scent can make it harder for the family to accept it back.

The best thing is to call a wildlife rescue centre as soon as possible and describe the situation. They will judge whether the cub needs to be taken in straight away or whether to wait a little longer.

The biggest dangers for young badgers are hypothermia and dehydration, so quick expert help is crucial. While you wait for it to be collected:

• Pick the cub up wearing thick gloves or using a towel. Even young badgers have strong jaws and bite when they are frightened.
• Put it in a sturdy box or pet carrier with an old towel or blanket. Badgers are skilled escape artists, so close the box securely, but leave air holes.
• Warm it up first – with a hot-water bottle wrapped in a towel, placed so the cub can move away from the heat. Do not give a cold cub any food or water.
• Keep the box in a quiet, darkened room, away from pets and children.
• Write down exactly where you found it, because badgers are released back in the same area after rearing.

A list of contacts for associations and wildlife rescue centres is available on our website. In Croatia the badger is protected by law (it is also a game species) and may not be kept at home without a permit.

A baby badger feeds on its mother’s milk until it is about twelve weeks old and then gradually switches to adult food. The badger is an omnivore: in the wild it eats earthworms, insects, larvae, slugs and snails, small mammals, fruit, acorns and roots.

• Never give cow’s milk – it causes severe diarrhoea.
• Rescue centres use puppy milk replacer or similar products prescribed by a vet. Always agree on the type and amount with the rescue centre or a vet.
• Under expert supervision, young badgers drink milk for at least eight to twelve weeks, and then mushy meat-based food, earthworms, insects and fruit are introduced.

Do not experiment with food at home. The wrong diet quickly causes digestive problems in animals this young.

Sometimes a rescue centre cannot take the cub straight away and asks you to feed it until then. In that case:

• The cub must be warm before every feed.
• Feed it lying on its tummy or slightly upright, never on its back, so the milk does not get into its lungs.
• Give the milk slowly, with a needle-free syringe or a puppy feeding bottle, and let it suckle by itself.
• After feeding, gently massage its tummy and the area under the tail with damp cotton wool so it can urinate and defecate.
• Give feeds only as instructed by the experts, at the intervals they set.

Badgers are social animals that live in family groups, so rescue centres do not raise them individually. Cubs are put together in groups with other young badgers as soon as possible, and they are later released with them. In this group they learn to communicate, play, dig and forage.

Contact with people is kept to an absolute minimum. A badger that gets used to people will readily wander into yards and gardens after release, lose its wariness and come into conflict with people and dogs. For the same reason, a cub should never be kept at home for months: on its own, without others of its age, it will struggle to learn everything it needs.

Young badgers are also real escape artists – they are excellent diggers and climbers, so they need specially secured enclosures.

Young badgers stay at the rescue centre until they are at least six months old, and they are usually released in late summer or autumn, before winter.

• They are released together, as a group, because a single young badger struggles to survive.
• Release is gradual: the group first stays in an enclosure with an artificial sett at the release site, with food and water, and then the enclosure is opened and food is left out for a while longer.
• The site must be quiet, with enough food and shelter, far from roads and outside the territory of other badgers.
• Before release, a vet checks the animals’ health and weight.

Badgers can carry parasites (fleas, ticks, intestinal worms) and bacterial diseases and, like all carnivores, in theory also rabies. So:

• Do not touch the cub with bare hands and do not hold it close to your face.
• If it bites you, wash the wound thoroughly with soap and water and see a doctor.
• Wash your hands after every contact, and wash the bedding from the box at a high temperature or throw it away.
• Keep pets away from the cub.

My advice to anyone who finds a baby badger is to stop and watch first – the mother may not be far away. If the cub really is alone, weak or injured, warm it up, put it somewhere quiet and call a wildlife rescue centre straight away. There it will grow up with other badgers, without getting used to people, and will have a real chance of returning to the wild.