A badger is recovering after being found injured and exhausted in a Fife river.
The two-year-old female managed to scramble on to a sluice gate in Kinross after falling into the River Leven.
The animal, named Brenda by the SSPCA staff who rescued her, has been transferred to the charity’s wildlife centre at Fishcross and it is hoped it will be fit for release later this week.
The brock was plucked to safety by animal rescue officer Beverley O’Lone and a colleague.
Beverly said: “We think the badger had fallen into the water and somehow managed to pull herself up on to the sluice gate but she became stuck and was in a great deal of distress.
“It was quite a tricky rescue and my colleague secured himself to the gate by a harness to stop him falling into the water while pulling the badger to safety.
“The badger’s leg was bleeding from where she’d been scrambling to get on top of the gate and she was absolutely exhausted so I took her to our National Wildlife Rescue Centre.”
The badger was given antibiotics and painkillers for grazing on her hind legs and feet but otherwise was in “very good condition”, weighing a healthy 10kg.
Centre manager Colin Seddon said: “The badger was very shocked initially but she is doing much better now.
“Being part of the weasel family, badgers can swim but they tend to only do this out of absolute necessity and will usually try to avoid it.
“The badger is continuing to receive medication for her leg injury and is being closely monitored but we have every hope she will soon be fit enough for release back in the wild.”
Earlier this week it was revealed that a live badger was rescued from a sewer at Drongan in Ayrshire.