Caution must be used with baby badgers. The key here is to make sure that what you have is really an orphan, if you bother a baby badger under the care of a parent, you will have a dangerous situation at hand as mum will not tolerate the disturbance of her cubs.

Newborn baby badgers are like dog puppies, if you find one outside of a set (badger hole) with its eyes still closed, then there may be a problem. You must leave it alone and do not touch, and have a quiet look back in about an hour, do not linger or watch from a distance, you will be smelled out and the parent will not retrieve the young one.

Usually the parent will retrieve the cub and all will be well. If the cub is still there and travelling around calling, or has been joined by other cubs it may well be that the parent has been injured and has not returned. Do not touch the cubs, phone your local vet or sanctuary for advice.

As the badgers get older (6 weeks) they look like miniature adults and will be seen at evening times playing outside the den, even without mum. they will be pouncing and playing like dog pups and in and out of the set. Do not disturb, and dont tell anyone where they are, the less they are disturbed the better.

Cubs lying around the set entrance, calling and collapsed however may need assistance, do not touch, call your vet or local sanctuary for advice ASAP.

Cubs left parentless on roadsides (often beside a dead parent) however should be transferred to your nearest vet / sanctuary ASAP as they will nead specialist feeding and rehydration therapy.

Badger cubs follow mum in a line, and often get left behind. It does not take them long to dehydrate and we have had many instances where a cub has been found following people out walking, following pushchairs and wheelchairs and sheltering under parked cars. If this happens to you, stay with the cub, but do not touch it, and phone your vet or canctuary for advice. However if the cub appears to be collapsing, shaking or is being pestered by flies you should follow the procedure below:

Even though they are small, they can still bite, wear thick garden gloves and pop the cub into a pet carrier with a thick towel and take to a specialist. You must have somewhere to take the cub ready before you get him into the car as you will be in serious trouble if you are stopped by the police with badger cubs in your vehicle and no excuse for it.

You can not raise the cub yourself, it takes months of specialist care and facilities and if brought up wrongly they cannot be released back into the wild. Get a professional.