PA MediaA two-week old badger cub thought to have been dragged out of her home has been rescued by an animal welfare charity.
The tiny cub, which has been named Lavender, was spotted by a member of the public in woods near Inverness.
The Scottish SPCA was alerted and has taken the animal into its care, making it the youngest badger it has rescued.
The charity believes the youngster was dragged out of her sett by another animal before she was found on Valentine’s Day.
She is now being hand-reared by the Scottish SPCA’s National Wildlife Rescue Centre’s wildlife care assistant, April Sorley.
Ms Sorley said: “We believe Lavender is the youngest badger cub to ever be cared for at our National Wildlife Rescue Centre.
“When she arrived she was smaller than my hand and weighed just 250g, although she’s getting bigger every day.”
She added: “She is bottle-feeding well, and has doubled her weight since she arrived which we’re so pleased about. As of today she weighs 575g.
“I’ll be hand-rearing her until she is 12 weeks old as that is when she would be weaned if she was with her mum in the wild.
“We usually see badgers come into our care around April time, when they are old enough to venture out of their sett and explore their surroundings.
“She was a very unexpected, but perfect Valentine.”
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