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There has been a happy ending to the story about Rosemary, the three-week-old badger cub that visited Woodcote Pre-school's Animal Half Hour in March.
After being abandoned, Rosemary was rescued and hand-reared by two pre-school parents who are game-keepers.
As endangered species licence-holders with nine years' conservation experience, they thought it highly unlikely that Rosemary would ever be successfully released into the wild.
However, they resolved to give it a go. They chose a sett near Woodcote, marked Rosemary with red dye and introduced her to a group of playing badger cubs, who accepted her without question.
There was a heart-stopping moment when a female badger emerged to call in the youngsters, but Rosemary simply followed the other cubs underground.
After two days of being closely monitored to check that she was eating and not being bullied, Rosemary was left to her own devices.
She is now seen occasionally, and seems to be enjoying life in the wild. .
Woodcote Pre-school children were up-dated with Rosemary's story on June 24th, when they also met and learned about several three day old and week old pheasant chicks.
And on June 17th they had a visit from Gilbey, an Arab horse.
For more information about Woodcote Pre-school or its Animal Half Hour, telephone 01491 682300 or visit www.woodcote.org
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