Giant badger causes 'hysteria' at girls' school

A giant badger in a school's grounds is "scaring the living daylights" out of pupils, according to a parent. The concerned mother says the animal has been seen several times in the grounds of Folkestone School for Girls - and the pupils have been told to stay away. The parent, who did not want to be named, says the creature's presence is "causing hysteria", but believes it is harmless.



She said: "It has been spotted several times within the grounds, scaring the living daylights out of the teenage girls." The mother said the presence of the animal was brought up at a recent school assembly. On one occasion, the badger was spotted underneath one of the mobile classrooms and all the pupils were told to close the windows and not to leave until it was safe.

She added: "There were tales of it charging at a pupil and then sniffing her, but these are teenage girls who are full of drama. It is a giant badger and it is causing hysteria. Some of pupils are saying they are now too scared to walk past certain parts of the site in case a badger runs out and bites them."



School management explained it only had reports of a single badger that seemed disorientated and wandered over towards the school buildings on one occasion. It was watched and accompanied back to its sett by site staff and has not been seen since. School principal Tracy Luke said: "We do have a badger sett in the school grounds, well away from school buildings." She said a member of staff did mention the badger incident to pupils, asking them to let staff know if they saw a badger and suggesting that they should not approach it.