Badger rescued by the RSPCA after falling into raw sewage tank

A badger has been rescued from a smelly situation after falling into a tank of raw sewage at a wastewater plant in Cheshire.

Workers at the site in Neston alerted the RSPCA after spotting the mammal when they arrived for work last Tuesday (21 November).  

The adult badger had tumbled about six feet (1.8 metres) into the tank, fortunately landing on a narrow concrete ledge instead of going into the water.

It took RSPCA rescuers Naomi Norris and Katie Glenn over an hour to rescue and pull him to safety.

Relatively dry and unharmed - apart from a couple of minor scratches on his nose - he was later released back into the wild.        

Inspector Norris, who thanked the workers at the site for reporting the incident, said:

“There are lots of tanks and unfortunately this particular badger had picked one that contained raw sewage. He was lucky to land on the ledge as the surrounding water is about 20-feet deep. Although badgers can swim and he might have been able to clamber out, it would have been a pretty unpleasant experience for him.

“He ran around the edge of the tank for about an hour before we were finally able to catch him using a grasper and a net to support his weight as we pulled him up.

“We don’t know how long he’d been down there but the most likely explanation is that he fell in overnight. He was a little damp, either from the morning dew or the overspill that was coming over the ledge, but he certainly wasn’t as wet or as smelly as he might have been. 

“Hopefully he’ll give this location a wider berth in future.”  

The RSPCA is out on the frontline across England and Wales rescuing animals from danger and suffering 365 days a year.

We’re asking people to join the Christmas rescue and help us be there for animals like this badger.