{"id":406161,"date":"2026-03-27T04:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/406161\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T04:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:41:11","slug":"extremely-strong-animal-gets-trapped-at-skate-park-and-the-rescue-turns-risky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/406161\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Extremely Strong’ Animal Gets Trapped At Skate Park \u2014 And The Rescue Turns Risky"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a recent morning just outside London, a strange sight caught the attention of several South Essex city workers. Something furry lay at the bottom of a skate park bowl.<\/p>\n

The workers watched a hefty, furry animal struggle to climb out, to no avail. Based on the black-and-white head and gray body, they recognized her as a European badger.<\/p>\n

Essex Badger Protection Group<\/p>\n

European badgers are mustelids, like weasels and otters. They are a completely different species from North American badgers, who are smaller, with wider faces and brown fur.<\/p>\n

European badgers are social animals who live in small groups in vast underground setts, or burrows, that they dig with their strong legs and claws, according to Genuine Mustelids<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ThreeLillian King\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the badger in the skate park couldn\u2019t get a solid grip on the slippery bowl and had worn herself out trying to escape.<\/p>\n

The city workers contacted Essex Badger Protection Group (EBPG)<\/a> for help.<\/p>\n

\"AEssex Badger Protection Group<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we arrived, the badger was curled up,\u201d Nina Scotland, an experienced rescuer with EBPG, told The Dodo. \u201cIt was clearly exhausted from its continued attempts to escape, and would have been cold and dehydrated from its night of misfortune.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scotland carefully slid into the skate bowl with some supplies.<\/p>\n

\"AEssex Badger Protection Group<\/p>\n

As she approached the badger, Scotland made several observations: The badger was tired, but alert, with nowhere to escape. If Scotland couldn\u2019t maneuver the animal into the cage on her first try, her patient probably wouldn\u2019t give her a second chance.<\/p>\n

Badgers typically avoid confrontation, but aren\u2019t afraid to defend themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are extremely strong animals and can give a very nasty bite,\u201d Darren Parker, vice chair with EBPG, told The Dodo.<\/p>\n

In fact, this adorable animal has a bite as powerful as a cougar\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually in these circumstances, we would attempt to use a grasper to catch the badger,\u201d Parker said. \u201cHowever \u2026 if Nina failed to grasp the badger on the first attempt, it would very unlikely allow her to get close to it on a second occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AEssex Badger Protection Group<\/p>\n

Instead, Scotland covered the badger\u2019s head with a towel and deftly grabbed the animal by her scruff. Instantly, the badger squirmed and managed to bite Scotland\u2019s gloved hand.<\/p>\n

Undeterred and dedicated to helping the scared animal, Scotland managed to secure the badger in the cage.<\/p>\n

Essex Badger Protection Group<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all happened very quickly,\u201d Scotland said. \u201cMy heart was racing, especially when it started struggling when I lifted it to the cage, but I wasn\u2019t going to let it go.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city workers helped the pair out of the skate bowl.<\/p>\n

\"AEssex Badger Protection Group<\/p>\n

At the South Essex Wildlife Hospital, vets were relieved to find the badger had no major injuries, just minor bruising. After some fluids, pain meds and a good night\u2019s sleep, the badger was released the following day.<\/p>\n

\"AEssex Badger Protection Group<\/p>\n

Scotland, whose gloves saved her hand from any serious bite wound, never tires of helping wildlife.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always the best feeling to see them released back home,\u201d Scotland said. \u201cHopefully, she has learnt her lesson and her skating days are in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you would like to support Essex Badger Protection Group’s work, you can donate via their website<\/a>.\u00a0\"Woman<\/a>Woman Goes On Walk In A Park And Finds A Badger Cub Begging For Help\u201c[She] was trying to stop us!\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a recent morning just outside London, a strange sight caught the attention of several South Essex city…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[273],"tags":[183674,102576,183672,1703,18,19,17,35114,133,183673,1702,1700,393,461,50821,10621],"class_list":["post-406161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animal-trapped-in-skate-park","tag-badger","tag-badger-rescue","tag-daily-dodo","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sarah-ashley","tag-science","tag-skate-park","tag-standard","tag-the-dodo","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-encounters","tag-wildlife-rescue"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116299306495408706","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}