Scottish man fights to keep rescued badger Harriet after licence refusal

A Scottish ecologist is campaigning to keep a badger he rescued from starvation, after wildlife officials turned down his licence application and said the animal should be released or moved to a zoo.

Rescued from a cattle trough

Graeme Wilson, 55, from the Scottish Borders, runs a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation service called GW Ecology. In April, he took in a young badger, now named Harriet, who had been found severely underweight and filthy inside a cattle trough about 300 feet from her sett. He nursed her back to health.

Wilson says he soon noticed something odd. Although Harriet was only a few months old, she took milk from a bottle with ease, which led him to suspect she had previously been raised by people. “It was almost second nature when she saw the bottle,” he told the BBC. He added that he had cared for injured badgers before and had never seen anything like it, and concluded she could not be returned to the wild.

Wilson reportedly tried releasing Harriet at two separate badger setts. Each time she became highly distressed and seemed intent on coming back to him.

Licence refused

According to PEOPLE, NatureScot, Scotland’s wildlife agency, rejected Wilson’s application for an educational licence that would have allowed him to keep caring for Harriet. Officials advised that she should be released or handed to a licensed zoo.

Wilson believes either option could endanger her. “Badgers are companion animals, they are a social animal and unfortunately for Harriet she has decided that humans are her social group,” he said. He warned that a tame badger approaching strangers could meet a bad end, and said a zoo would leave her lonely and distressed. “Harriet’s upbringing means she needs human interaction, not to be put behind glass and stared at,” he said.

NatureScot has defended the decision, saying the application did not meet the legal requirements for keeping a protected wild animal. The agency also said Wilson could let Harriet roam freely from his property while still providing food and shelter, as long as her movements are not restricted. It says talks are continuing to find a solution that puts her welfare first.

Fundraiser and a similar case

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to cover Harriet’s care and possibly pay for a purpose-built habitat if Wilson is allowed to keep her.

The dispute has drawn comparisons with the case of Peanut the squirrel, who was taken from his owner by New York wildlife officials in 2024.

Wilson says he remains committed to securing a safe future for the animal. “Harriet never asked for any of this — she deserves to live happily,” he said.

Source: dexerto.com

Image: caroline legg / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)