Badger rescued from Bristol Harbour - after car tyre saved its life
Watch the exhausted badger sleeping soundly at Secret World after its ordeal.
It was a dramatic early morning rescue like no other at Bristol Docks.
A badger fell into the freezing water in the city centre in the early hours of the morning.
It spent two hours trying to get out of the docks, but with no success. It did manage to drag itself onto a boat at one point, but then fell back into the water.
The badger managed to drag itself on to a tyre near to the ropes of SS Great Britain at one point - a move which rescues believe saved the animal's life.
Pauline Kidner who runs Secret World Wildlife Rescue in Highbridge, Somerset, was alerted to the drama at 1.30am on Thursday 25 March and rushed to Bristol to help.
She said: ”It is so rewarding to be able to help in an incident like this. It was so heart wrenching to see him swimming and crying at the same time.
He will stay with Secret World Wildlife Rescue in East Huntspill for a few days to recover. Once better, he will be going home.”
Charlotte Wroe from Secret World said: "Nearly 45 minutes were spent trying to catch the badger who kept returning to the water and at one time seemed to be going out to the middle of the harbour.
"The badger was very vocal with the effort of swimming and there was a fear that if it went quiet, that it would have finally gone under the water. "
Secret World rescues over 5,000 casualties every year and continues to help wildlife always with the aim of returning them to the wild.
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