Bad Day for Badger

by Sarah Hawkins

  The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is the UK’s largest animal charity. They rescue, look after and rehome hundreds of thousands of animals each year in England and Wales. They also offer advice on caring for all animals and campaign to change laws that will protect them. Their work relies on your support, and buying this book helps them save animals’ lives.

  www.rspca.org.uk

  Contents

  Cover

  Half Title Page

  RSPCA

  Title Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Epilogue

  The Real-Life Rescue

  Facts about Badger

  Sneak Peek of Bunny Needs a Friend

  Join the RSPCA

  Copyright

  “So what game are we going to get, then?” Dad asked as they drove down the country lane into town.

  “It’s called Ice Storm,” Lewis grinned. “I’ve played it round at Maddy’s house and it’s brilliant. You have to collect all these stars that give you superpowers, and the baddies throw icicles to try and freeze you.”

  Dad sighed. “I don’t know why you don’t do something useful, like read a book.”

  Lewis rolled his eyes. Whenever Mum had to go away to a sales conference, or to visit Granny and Pops back in Jamaica, he and Dad were stuck with each other all weekend long. He loved his dad, but all he ever did was work, and he seemed to think that’s all Lewis should do, too! Yesterday, before she’d left, Mum had suggested that they go into town and get the game that Lewis had wanted for ages. But Dad was even ruining that.

  Lewis put his feet up on the car dashboard and glanced at his dad. Dad was long and lanky, like him, but that was about the only way that they looked the same. Lewis was like Mum, with chocolate-brown skin, dark eyes and afro hair. He liked wearing jeans and trainers, but Dad always wore smart clothes, even at the weekend. Dad’s skin was white and freckly, and he had brown hair. Behind his sunglasses, Lewis knew that Dad had light blue eyes that twinkled when he smiled, but that didn’t happen very often.

  Dad glanced over at him. “Feet!” he warned Lewis immediately. Lewis gave an exaggerated sigh and put them down.

  At least they were going to see Granddad tomorrow. Granddad was Dad’s dad, and he was really fun. He was always telling Lewis exciting stories about his time in the Navy, or playing with Alfie, his old greyhound dog. Granddad was as fun as Dad was serious.

  Sometimes Granddad seems like the young one, and Dad the grumpy old man! Lewis thought, grinning to himself.

  He wound down the window as they drove down the little windy country lane, covered with fields on both sides. The sun was shining brightly, and the air smelled like cut grass and holidays. School was just about to start again, but it didn’t really feel like autumn yet. Lewis had had a brilliant summer. He and Mum had gone to stay in Cornwall with his best friend Maddy and her family – her mum and her big brother Stephen. They’d been fishing and crabbing, and eaten ice cream every day. Dad hadn’t come because he hadn’t been able to take any time off from work.

  Lewis stared out of the window as he remembered his holiday. But as he was thinking, a flash of black and white caught his eye. Something was lying at the side of the road. “Dad, stop!” he said, sitting up in his seat and straining to look out of the window.

  “What?” Dad quickly pulled the car over to the side of the road. “Are you OK?”

  “I saw an animal,” Lewis said, unbuckling his seat belt. “It was on the road, it might be hurt.”

  “Lewis, we can’t just stop—” Dad began to say, but Lewis was already getting out of the car.

  Making sure there was nothing coming, he ran across the lane. At the end of a row of parked cars, there was a small animal, lying very still.

  Please let it be OK, Lewis thought as he crept towards it. Was it a cat, or a dog? It had a dark grey body, and a stubby grey tail. As Lewis stepped closer, it looked up, and Lewis gasped as he saw its face. It had black and white lines over a long snuffly nose. Its eyes were black and beady, and it had little black paws, with strong-looking claws.

  “It’s a badger!” Lewis called excitedly to Dad in the car. “I’ve never seen one in real life before.”

  “It’s probably got fleas,” Dad called back. “Come on.”

  “We can’t just leave.” Lewis stepped closer. The badger was only small, and its beady, black eyes looked up at him fearfully. As Lewis got closer, it shuffled backwards towards the nearest car, dragging one of its back legs behind it.

  “Look, Dad, it is hurt,” Lewis said. “We have to help.”

  “OK,” Dad sighed and Lewis heard him getting out of the car. But the sound of the car door shutting startled the young badger. Before Lewis could move, it disappeared right underneath a van that was parked nearby.

  “Oh no!” Lewis gasped. “She’s scared.” He kneeled down and peered under the van. The badger peeped back at him. “Don’t be afraid,” Lewis said. “We want to help you.”

  “Lewis, we can’t stay here all day, or you’ll never get your game,” Dad said. “She’ll come out when she’s ready. She’s a wild animal, not a pet. And you don’t even know if she’s a girl, anyway.”

  “She looks like a girl. And I don’t care about the game!” Lewis insisted. “There must be something we can do. What about the rescue centre where Granddad got Alfie? They help animals, don’t they?”

  “The RSPCA?” Dad said. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea. Hold on, I’ll give them a ring.”

  Dad walked back to the car and Lewis sighed with relief. “It’s going to be OK,” he promised the badger. She just peered up at him and snuffled her nose again.

  Lewis looked around for something he could give her. He spotted a clump of grass and went and collected a handful.

  “Come on, Badger,” Lewis said soothingly as he kneeled down and held a long blade of grass under the van. The badger’s snout wriggled as she sniffed at it, but she didn’t come out. “Come and get the nice food,” Lewis coaxed her.

  But the badger just stared at him. Lewis studied her face. He couldn’t believe he was so close to a wild animal. Her eyes were bright and intelligent, like she understood every word he said. She had a dark nose, with fine, white whiskers poking out from either side. Her stripes were perfectly straight, like they’d been painted on. She was beautiful!

  “Badgers don’t eat grass,” Dad told him as he reappeared with his phone. “They eat worms and snails, things like that.”

  “Oh,” said Lewis, coming out from under the van and scrambling to his feet. “What did the RSPCA say?”

  Dad held out his phone and showed him the RSPCA’s website on the screen. “I rang the emergency hotline and they said they’ll send an officer out straight away. There’s a rescue centre just outside town. I didn’t even know it was there.”

  “I knew they’d help!” Lewis said happily. He sat down again and, to his surprise, Dad kneeled down next to him. They both peered under the van. The badger looked back, curiously.

  “I think I’ll call her Bramble,” Lewis said.

  “Bramble?” Dad looked surprised. “That’s a nice name. What made you think of that?”

  Lewis smiled. “Granddad said that now it’s September, it’s almost time to go blackberry picking again. Last year Archie got stuck in a bramble bush. It took ages to get him out!”

  Dad laughed and shook his head. “That dog is a troublemaker!”<
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  Lewis glanced under the van. The badger looked back, her snuffly snout poking out.

  “It’s OK, Bramble,” Lewis told the frightened badger. “Help will be here soon.”

  “Gotcha!” Dad laughed.

  Lewis and Dad were playing a game on Dad’s phone. Lewis couldn’t believe how many games Dad had, and how good at them he was.

  Dad had just beaten him for the fourth time when a white van drove down the road. Lewis spotted the blue RSPCA logo on the side and jumped up excitedly. “Careful,” Dad said, as Lewis leaped into the middle of the road and started waving. “We don’t want you getting injured, too.”

  The van carefully pulled up behind Dad’s car, and a man got out. He had a short-sleeved white shirt with black flaps on the shoulders, a navy tie, and a black peaked cap. “Hello!” he called, taking off his sunglasses. “Did you phone about a badger?”

  “Yes.” Dad went over to shake the RSPCA officer’s hand. “I’m Alex Riley,” he told him.

  “I’m Ray,” the officer introduced himself.

  “I’m Lewis, and the badger, she’s called Bramble,” Lewis said all in one breath.

  “Oh, is she now?” Ray chuckled, his eyes twinkling. “What makes you so sure she’s a girl? Expert in badgers, are we?” he joked.

  “I’ve never actually seen one before,” Lewis told him shyly. “But she just looks like a girl. I think she might be hurt.”

  Ray suddenly seemed serious. He opened the back of the RSPCA van and brought out a big wire carrier with a door at one end. “OK then. Let’s take a look at her.”

  Lewis showed Ray the van, and they both looked under. For a second Lewis thought that Bramble had gone, but then he spotted her black beady eyes peering out nervously. She had squeezed even further back under the van, and had climbed up into the little space on top of the wheel.

  “Hello, Bramble,” Ray said softly. He turned to Lewis. “It looks like she’s quite a young cub,” he whispered. “I wonder what she’s doing on her own. Usually cubs this small stay very close to the sett where they live.”

  Ray kneeled down, then lay flat. “I’m going to see if I can reach her,” he told them as he started to wriggle right under the van.

  “Cool!” Lewis grinned.

  He went to follow Ray, but Dad stopped him. “Let him do his job,” he said.

  “You can hold my hat,” Ray said, appearing with a grin. He gave it to Lewis, then disappeared back under the van again. Lewis could hear his muffled voice as he spoke to Bramble. “What are you doing under there?” he asked. “Let’s get you out and back to where you belong.”

  Lewis crouched down to watch. As Ray reached out, the little badger edged further and further up into the small gap above the wheel.

  Ray stretched and reached out to Bramble, talking to her in a calm, low voice. But it was no good. Eventually he crawled out, shaking his head. He sat down and wiped the back of his hand over his face. “She’s gone right up into the wheel suspension,” he said with a frown.

  Lewis peered under the van. Bramble was almost invisible, but he could just see her white stripes and the very tip of her snout.

  “She probably likes the dark because badgers are nocturnal creatures,” Ray said.

  “What does that mean?” Lewis asked curiously.

  “That’s when something sleeps all day and only wakes up in the evening,” Dad explained.

  “Like Maddy’s big brother!” Lewis joked. On holiday Stephen had spent all the time sleeping instead of doing anything fun.

  Dad cracked a smile. “Yeah, all teenagers are a bit nocturnal!” he agreed.

  Ray grinned, then went back to looking at the van, walking all round it, a thoughtful look on his face.

  “Right,” Dad said. “How are we going to get her out? I’ve got a jack in the boot of my car. We can use that to lift the van up. Maybe that’ll help.”

  Ray looked at the van and shook his head. “I don’t want to risk hurting her.”

  “She might come out if she’s hungry,” Lewis suggested. “I can go and look for some worms to feed her.”

  “I don’t know about the worms, but food is a good plan,” Ray agreed. “Maybe that will tempt her out. There are lots of things that we can feed badgers – they eat wet cat food, and some human food, too – apples, plums and even peanuts.”

  “I love peanuts!” Lewis grinned. “We don’t have any in the car, though,” he added, disappointedly.

  “My lunch box is still in the car from yesterday,” Dad said. “There might be some apple in there.”

  “I’ll go and see!” Lewis volunteered. Dad threw him the keys, and he rushed over to the car and looked in the boot. Next to the spare tyre and jack, there was a torch and a first-aid kit, and Dad’s work bag. Inside that was a lunch box with the leftovers from his packed lunch in it. Lewis gasped indignantly as he opened it. Dad had left the crusts of his sandwiches, even though he was always telling Lewis off for not eating his!

  He moved the crusts and smiled as he saw the crescents of apple Dad had left behind. They’d be perfect for Bramble.

  Lewis picked them out of the lunch box, and grabbed the torch, too. He started to race back to the others, then slowed down to a walk. He wanted to run and shout, but he didn’t want to scare Bramble. “I got this as well,” he said, showing Dad and Ray the torch.

  “Well done – I don’t suppose you want a job with the RSPCA, do you?” Ray joked. “You’re a natural.”

  Lewis grinned. He’d never have guessed that on his way into town he’d be having an adventure rescuing a badger! “Can I feed her?” he asked hopefully.

  “I think I’d better do that,” Ray told him. “She seems calm at the moment, but she is a wild animal, and they’re unpredictable, especially when they’re cornered like this. You can watch though.”

  “OK,” Lewis agreed.

  Ray wriggled back under the van and Lewis slipped down next to him. He watched excitedly as Ray held out the apple. Bramble’s nose appeared, then her eyes as she reached her head out, stretching to get to the tasty treat.

  “She’s eating it!” Lewis whispered happily.

  “Come on, Bramble, have some lovely apple,” Ray said soothingly as he placed another bit of apple down, slightly out of her reach. Lewis could see what he was doing, leaving the apple like a trail to get her to come out of her hiding place. Ray moved backwards and Lewis shuffled after him, his trainers skidding on the road, until he was almost out from under the van. Ray put the next bit of apple down where Bramble could see it, then shuffled back even further.

  Bramble’s nose twitched as she smelled the food. Lewis and Ray stayed absolutely still, with just their heads looking under the van.

  Bramble finished the first piece, and looked inquisitively at Lewis, her nose sniffing the air like she was asking for more. Her nose stretched even further out, then her stripy head followed. She stretched towards the apple – and stopped.

  Ray tutted worriedly as he looked at her. “I think there might be a problem,” he said. “Alex, can you pass me that torch?”

  Dad’s feet appeared, then his hand. When Dad shone the torch under the car, Bramble blinked unhappily and squirmed. But although she wriggled and twisted, she couldn’t get out from the space above the wheel. Bramble was stuck!

  Ray got out from under the van, looking worried. “I just can’t get far enough under to get her out,” he explained.

  Lewis looked at Bramble’s confused little face. He didn’t want to leave her. Above him, he could hear Ray radioing the RSPCA.

  “We’ve got a problem here,” Ray said as his radio crackled to life. “Yes, a trapped badger. I think we’re going to have to call the fire brigade.”

  “Here they are!” Ray called as a huge red engine appeared around the corner. Lewis felt a bit disappointed that it didn’t have the blue lights
flashing and the sirens going, but he guessed they didn’t want to make Bramble the badger even more scared.

  The fire engine stopped and four firefighters jumped out – three men and a lady. “I know we’re supposed to rescue cats stuck up trees,” the lady said as she came over to meet them, “but I’ve never heard of a badger being stuck under a van before!”

  All four firefighters looked round the van as Ray explained the situation. Lewis watched in fascination. He hoped Bramble wasn’t too frightened. He could imagine her under there, peering out at all the big firefighters’ boots and wondering what was going to happen to her. She must be really scared.

  “I hear this is your badger, lad?” one of the firemen asked Lewis.

  “Well, I found her. She’s called Bramble,” Lewis said shyly as he looked up at the big man. He was wearing a jacket and trousers with fluorescent shiny yellow stripes around the sleeves and legs, and a yellow hat.

  “You can come and give me a hand then.” He smiled. “I’m Chief Fire Officer Dorileo, but you can call me Antonio,” he said with a wink.

  Lewis followed the firefighter excitedly over to the big red fire engine. He’d never seen one up close before and it seemed so huge now he was standing next to it. It had a red front, with blue lights and ladders on top, and red and yellow squares painted on the back. Antonio pulled up a metal blind on the side of the engine. Inside was a cupboard, with ropes and a hose all neatly curled and stored away.

  Antonio saw him looking and nodded. “We’ve got all kinds of equipment, anything we might need in an emergency situation. And we have to be able to get to it really quickly. Your badger isn’t in any danger at the moment, but sometimes it’s life or death, so we have to move fast.”

  Lewis nodded.

  “Every time we go back to the station we check all the equipment is in its place and ready to use,” Antonio continued. “There’s a lot of tidying up involved in being a firefighter!”