A baby badger was rescued by a good Samaritan who saw it running across the street.
She was dehydrated and weak.
So, she was taken to a wildlife rehab center to be cared for.
Stephanie from Wild West Rehab Center took the badger in and took care of it.
No place to call home
She has been rehabilitating wildlife at her home since there was no rehab center for wild animals in the Texas Panhandle.
The goal was to release Billie the Badger as soon as the team is done rehabilitating her.
If they can’t release her, she will still be loved and cared for. But the initial goal was to make sure that she was healthy.
Billie was only one month old.
They started to feed her with formula and then weaned her over to solid food.
The badger gained weight quickly and soon enough got very active and playful.
The next step was to let her go outside and dig for food.
Badgers are independent and aggressive animals.
So the team was hoping that Billie’s instincts would kick in.
However, whatever they tried to let her wild instincts out, did not work.
She ended up following Stephanie everywhere in the center.
She even does a purring sound like a cat when she’s with Stephanie.
They formed a bond quickly.
She tried to interact with Gertie the Dog who is a dog from one of the rehabbers.
But they made sure to keep the domestic animals away from the wild ones.
But then, at 3 months old, she began imprinting on the people that surrounded her.
She saw them as a source of food, which made it difficult for the team to get the badger ready for release.
Another badger came to the center.
She was almost the same age as Billie.
They were optimistic that Polly, the other badger, can help Billie to get her instincts back as a wild animal.
However, it was the other way around. Instead of having one friendly badger, they now have two.
The team started to realize that Billie was not going to be released as it would endanger her.
That’s when Billie was allowed to play with Gertie the dog.
Gertie and Billie always love to explore whenever they are together and the badger was even able to pick up some dog instincts.
Billie can play fetch.
She is well-loved and spoiled.
She always enjoys playing around with empty bags and boxes, and she even has her own ball pit.
Since she can no longer be released into the wild, the team’s goal is to create an indoor-outdoor enclosure so she can play and explore all she wants.
Billie’s also a “teacher”.
They also worked and trained Billie so she can be introduced in schools to teach kids in respecting animals in the wild.
They put her on a harness to warm her up and get comfortable.
Introducing Billie to kids will help them understand more and respect wild animals.
It’s been a great journey so far for Billie, and they never saw it coming.
When she arrived, they thought badgers were mean and aggressive. But Billie was different.
She’s special and loved. And now she can play with Polly and Gertie.
See Billie settle into her life as a house badger with her friend Gertie in the video below!
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