When Molly Padget stopped off at a Shell garage on her way back from work she was not expecting to be chased by a badger around the aisles. Molly, from Hawarden, Flintshire, dropped the curry she was about to buy after being confronted by the unexpected pursuer.
Molly said the creature, who proved to be bolder than normal, made its way to the toilets at the garage. She told NorthWalesLive: "It happened on Monday as I was on my way back from work at around 8pm. I stopped in at the Shell garage in Stafford and there it was." The sighting comes hot on the heels of shoppers in a Cardiff branch of Tesco being stunned to see a horse roaming the aisles.
Badgers are usually wary of humans so to see one in the flesh is quite rare. In most cases a badger's first reaction to danger is to escape into the nearest den.
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Molly added: "A police officer walked in and saw it but then just turned around and walked back out." She said the woodland creature ""didn't take anything" but "just ran into the loos". She said: "I was scared though when he chased after me. I dropped my curry trying to get away by going down two different aisles. He was always close behind until he went into the bathroom. It's the first badger I've ever seen alive."
"None of the other staff members saw the badger come in but when they did they all screamed. Then a random man asked for a brush and said he hadn't had his TB jab but would have a good crack at ushering the badger out, which he did."
Badgers and badger setts (burrows) are protected under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 in England and Wales. This means you could be sent to prison for up to six months and get an unlimited fine if you’re found guilty of any of these offences:
- intentionally capture, kill or injure a badger
- damage, destroy or block access to their setts
- disturb badgers in setts
- treat a badger cruelly
- deliberately send or intentionally allow a dog into a sett
- bait or dig for badgers
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