I Hope You Don't Have A Badger In There....

....don't worry it's not a euphemism!! It's what Mr G said to me earlier in the week when I arrived back from the stables. I'll come to that in a minute, first let me show you some shabby chic loveliness....


W and I went to our first car boot of the year last Sunday and I got a couple of bargains:

Cute shabby chic pictures for £2.00

Perfect for either side of my £8.00 refuse tip mirror!!

And pink roses, 3 bunches for £2.00:

Which I have scattered everywhere:

It did cross my mind that as the roses were so cheap they might not last but as of today I have had to throw out a few, the majority are still looking ok.

Now to explain about the badger!! I had gone up to feed my horses and whilst I dished out the buckets Daisy and Milo (our two JRT's) started doing a funny bark - one which clearly means "Mummy look!! Look!! At this funny thing we've found!!" 

They were in the corner of my field shelter dancing about like a pair of loons and I knew it meant they had found a creature of some kind - I recognised it from the times Milo found a sick rabbit and a cornered fox.

Indeed, on closer inspection, this is what I found:

A poorly badger....

It's funny because Mr G and I had only been saying last weekend that we'd never seen a live badger, only dead ones on roads (which led Mr G to conclude that there are either loads of them or they are crap at crossing roads).

Sadly, he wasn't in very good shape - he lifted his head to the dogs but soon snuggled back into a ball. I stood dithering as to what to do whilst the dogs barked at him (I think its quite sweet that despite being terriers they didn't attack him) so I put the dogs back in the car (much to their disgust).

There is virtually no phone signal out where I keep my horses so I marched up and down the lane trying to get a blob on my phone. I rang Mr G and he just said "Leave it alone" but the chap in the cottages opposite and the farmhand agreed that I should call the RSPCA. They said they would come out when they could.

Anyway, to cut a long story short I went to have another look at him and felt so sorry for him I gingerly (as I know they can be nasty)  scooped him into a huge water bucket using a stick (which he attacked!!), he curled back into his ball so I put a fleece over him and popped him the car to take to the local vets.

And they refused to have him!! They said I had to call the RSPCA again or take him on a 60 odd mile round trip to a wildlife sanctuary.

Mr G was unimpressed when I arrived back home with him, not least because he smelt none to fragrant and the car needed fumigating.

Fortunatley, the RSPCA where fabulous - it pains me to say it because as a horse owner I have witnessed them being useless time and time again when it comes to neglected horses but credit where it's due. 

The local inspector called to say that he would come over to fetch the badger - he said that

when badgers get old they get chucked out of the sett by the younger badgers and then wander from sett to sett trying to find somewhere to live - how sad is that? The other badgers then beat them up until they have nowhere left to go and that's probably why he ended up in my shelter.

The inspector popped the badger into a basket using one of those sticks with a loop on the end and said he would take him to the vets on the off chance he could be helped but it didn't look good.

I at least felt as though I had done my best for him....

Hope you've all had a good week and are enjoying the weekend....

hugs,

S x