WILDER than the average student, a baby badger has been raising eyebrows at a college near York.

Students at Askham Bryan College have become used to seeing the seven-week-old badger, named Bare because when he was born he had no fur.

Lecturer Jean Thorpe, who teaches wildlife and practical animal handling at the college, has looked after Bare since he was first born.

His mother gave birth to him and his brother in a garage in Cumbria because all the badger setts had been flooded.

She left the two babies there and they were taken in by Jean, who is chairwoman of the Ryedale Badger Group and runs a wildlife rehabilitation unit from her home in Norton.

Sadly the other badger did not survive, but Bare is thriving.

He now travels to Askham Bryan with Jean every day, as he needs bottle-feeding every four hours.

When he was born he weighed only three-and-a-half ounces and needed feeding every 90 minutes, but now he is a healthy size, weighing in at just over a pound.

Jean said: "Everyone at the college always asks me how he is. You wouldn't normally see badgers at this age as they'd usually still be underground with their mother."

Updated: 11:05 Tuesday, March 23, 2004