Poor chilly Wilf the badger looked pitiful without his fur. But now he has his own specially-made Burberry coat to keep him warm, writes Ian Townsend.
Wilf, a four-year-old badger adopted by Penny Little from Great Haseley, underwent his first moult recently. The fur grew back on his face and legs, but he was left with designer stubble on the rest of his body.
"Then I saw an advert by Burberry saying they made coats for dogs," said Penny, who runs the sanctuary Little Foxes at her home. "I contacted them with Wilf's measurements - and they sent this specially-made coat back as a gift, with best wishes to Wilf. They were wonderful."
Penny added: "Wilf must be the poshest badger in the world." She rescued Wilf years ago but could not release him because he could not have coped in the wild.
Instead he became a house pet along with Penny's dog - and the hero of her first book Badger In The House.
"He's a pretty pitiful little handful in many ways, but he has a massive persionality," said Penny.
"And now with his bespoke tailored coat he thinks he can lord it over everyone - including the dogs."
A spokesman for Burberry, in Regent Street, London, said: "We were intrigued by the problem - badgers certainly are not among our regular customers.
"We are glad he likes his coat - but we hope he gets his own fur coat back very soon."
Story date: Wednesday 22 December
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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