Meet Lavender, an Adorable Wee Badger Cub Rescued by the Scottish SPCA

In mid-February, a walker discovered a teeny badger cub abandoned along a wooded trail in Inverness, Scotland. European badgers typically have large family groups—known as a clan or cete—so to find a baby on its own meant something terrible probably happened. According to The Independent, this wee mite weighed only 250 grams (about 8 ounces) and was about 2 weeks old. The rescuer contacted the Scottish SPCA National Wildlife Rescue Centre (SPCA) for help.

Scottish SPCA wildlife care assistant April Sorely told The Independent that when the tiny babe arrived at their facility, she was smaller than the size of her hand. The organization named the cub Lavender, and she's the youngest (and we're guessing smallest) badger rescue they've ever had! The Scottish SPCA often cares for lost badger cubs in April, when many wander away from their homes (also called setts). So the speculation was that to find such a lost tiny cub mid-winter meant it might have been pulled away from its family by a larger animal.

Sorely said Lavender is bottle-feeding and has already doubled her weight in just a couple of weeks—both a good sign. She told The Independent that the Scottish SPCA staff would hand-rear Lavender until she's 12 weeks old, which is the normal time period in which a badger cub would be weaned by its mama in the wild.

So what happens after that? Normally, rescued badgers taken into the Scottish SPCA's care are typically grouped together during their stay so they can socialize as they would in the wild and later be released together sometime in the fall. While American badgers are more likely to be loners, there's a strong chance all these rescued European badgers will form a new life with one another. Good luck, Lavender!