'Rare' blonde badger spotted in countryside

A conservation charity said it was excited after a "rare" blonde badger was filmed in the countryside.

Essex Wildlife Trust shared footage of the unusually coloured animal on social media, but would not reveal where it was spotted to avoid members of the public potentially disturbing it.

The trust's protected species manager, Darren Tansley, said: "They're so rare. I see badgers from time-to-time, but they're always the normal colour - this is a one in 10,000 thing that you're going to spot.

"It's not something that's unheard of. We do get a lot of different colour animals in our countryside... but there are very few badgers that have this colourisation."

He told BBC Essex the colour was caused by a slight genetic mutation, meaning the badger has less pigment in the skin than usual.

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