Cuan Wildlife Rescue have recently launched an urgent appeal for funds to help us care for the increasing number of orphaned badger cubs in our care. We are already caring for 24 cubs and need extra facilities to ensure they can be released in the autumn after a sharp increase in the number of badgers taken in to the centre. Both of our animal hospital’s outdoor enclosures are already full and we are now fundraising for a third, which will cost up to £10,000. So far just over £3,000 has been raised.
Approximately a quarter the size of a football pitch, the enclosure will help the cubs to get used to life in the wild in a controlled outdoor environment. The large enclosure will be fully secured and include features such as shelter, logs, and soil, where the cubs can learn the skills to survive including digging for food and burrowing.
In the large enclosure, human contact is minimised and a strict feeding regime is introduced, including starve days to simulate conditions in the wild. In autumn, when the cubs have been fully rehabilitated, they are taken to a soft release site where they are released back into the wild after a short period of adaptation.
As part of their rehabilitation, every badger admitted to Cuan Wildlife Rescue is tested for bovine tuberculosis. If the badger is free of the disease, it is then vaccinated, meaning that Cuan Wildlife Rescue will only release clean badgers. Badgers that have contracted bovine TB, as well as those that have spent time in close proximity to infected badgers, have to be put to sleep.
To rehabilitate the cubs, we urgently need to build a new enclosure. We can only do this with the generosity of those who donate and every penny received is a step towards the release of the cubs back into the wild where they belong To donate, visit our just giving page at :
Many thanks we appreciate all your support.
