Badger rescued after falling into tank of raw sewage in Neston

Workers at a wastewater plant in Neston alerted the RSPCA on Tuesday (November 21) after they spotted the mammal when they arrived to work.

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

Inspector Norris, 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.

The adult badger had tumbled six feet into the tank, fortunately landing on a narrow concrete ledge instead of going into the water (Image: RSPCA)

“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. 

The badger was rescued and released back into the wild (Image: RSPCA)

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

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.