Drop by drop, how the life of Billy the orphan badger was saved after his family died in house demolition

Found cowering under a flagstone, he was a pathetic bundle of fur the same size and weight as a cricket ball.

Billy the badger cub’s mother and six siblings had been killed when a wrecking crew destroyed a derelict house.

At just six weeks old, Billy would have died if he had been left to fend for himself. But his life was saved by the milk of human kindness – or rather a mixture of high-protein liquids squeezed into his tiny mouth from an eye dropper.

Weighing less than 5ozs when he was found, Billy is on the mend and is soon to be released into the wild

After six weeks at the Folly Wildlife Rescue Centre in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, his 5oz body weight has almost quadrupled and he will soon be big and strong enough to be released back into the wild following tests which showed he is free from tuberculosis.

The house at Polegate, Surrey, had been surveyed for wildlife before the demolition crew moved in with their diggers. But because his mother sheltered him and his siblings beneath the concrete block, they were all missed.

‘He was so small and so weak it was touch and go,’ said one of the team at the wildlife centre. ‘But Billy was a fighter. He made it.’

Billy, who currently tips the scales at just under 600g, is being nursed back to full health following his fortuitous escape

Ironically, the house had been surveyed for wildlife before the demolition crews moved in with their diggers.

But because his mother sheltered him and his siblings beneath the concrete block, they were all missed.

Now Billy, who has been tested and is free from TB - a common ailment among wild badgers - is preparing to be released along with several other badger orphans back into the wild.

Plans for a badger cull in Wales were dramatically stopped last week after an outcry from animal lovers.

Badgers have been blamed for the spread of bovine TB which kills hundreds of cows each year.

But the Welsh government decided to look instead at the mass vaccination of badgers.

Plaid Cymru ministers were accused of a ‘cowardly betrayal’ of farmers by scrapping the planned cull and warned the decision would cost many their livelihoods.

The U-turn looks set to put pressure on the Government to rethink their plans for a badger cull in England.