the story of Lenny

Lenny, a six week old cub, was pulled from his sett by a dog. The dog's owner took him to a nearby vet's practice, and they called the North East Essex Badger Group for advice on feeding and what to do regarding rehabilitation. He was nicknamed Lenny by the nurse who looked after him (because he came from Henny!). He was kept under observation for a couple of days, and was found to be healthy and feeding well.

Unable to be returned to his sett because of the risk of the dog doing the same thing again, Lenny was taken by NEEBG members to Secret World in Somerset. Here he could be reared along with other orphan badgers from across the country, and eventually return to the wild in an artificial sett as part of a new little badger family.

It is illegal to allow a dog to enter a badger sett. If a dog is stuck in a sett, it is illegal to dig to retrieve it. A period of 24 hours must be allowed for the dog to exit of it's own accord. If it doesn't, a licence has to be obtained to attempt to extract the dog with great care and under the supervision of an expert.

Lenny