Local resident Stuart Reder rescued the badger cub when he found it abandoned at a nearby wooded area.

He said: "We left him there for some time in the hope his mother would return for him but she didn't. He was freezing cold when I picked him up and kept breaking into little sobs and squealing. He then pushed his nose under my chin and tried to suckle my jumper. I called him Nipper because he kept nipping at my fingers and trying to suckle them."

Stuart, who also rescued a young badger in 2001 after its parents were killed on the road, handed the cub to staff at the sanctuary last week.

Seal nurse and animal keeper Chloe Hutchinson said: "The badger has been doing ever so well since he got here. He will probably stay at the sanctuary as he is too tame to be released back into the wild.

"We also have five fox cubs here which came into us recently – four are nicely aggressive so they can be released; but one female cub is being hand-reared because she is just too friendly and thinks I am her mum."

Staff at the sanctuary introduced this fox to the baby badger on Wednesday and saw encouraging results.

Chloe explained: "I took the badger into see the fox and she had a good sniff of the back of his head." She added: "We will keep slowly introducing them and just see how they get on."