Unexpected Valentine's visitor as Isle of Wight woman finds badger 'burglar' in bedroom

A badger had to be rescued from a bedroom in Ryde on the Isle of Wight yesterday (14 February).

The animal had fallen from the wall at the end of the garden and was then trapped in the courtyard area.

She then chewed through the wooden back door and got into the kitchen where she raided the cupboards for food and headed upstairs to the bedroom.

She emptied the cupboards and also tried to climb up the bedroom fireplace which bought a lot of ash down.

The homeowner, who was away for a couple of days, first thought they'd been burgled when they arrived home and saw the damage.

Rescuer Graham said: "When the homeowner saw the badger they made contact with Badger Trust Isle of Wight and I went out.

"She was sleeping in an upturned bin when I went into the bedroom, I watched her walk around the room to make sure she wasn't injured and then caught her and put her into our badger cage and gave her a check over.

"She was a nice healthy weight so I asked a neighbour to help me carry the cage down the stairs and out onto the pavement where I gave her another check over and gave her a few minutes to get her bearings and then opened the cage.

"She trotted off up the pavement without a care in the world. We usually get calls about badgers living underneath houses, so it's very rare to get a call about a badger actually inside the house!"

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