Heber police rescue badger stuck in local skate park

Officers contained the badger in a dog kennel before driving it to the wild to be released. Photo: Heber City Police Department

HEBER CITY, Utah — Heber City police officers responded to an unusual call Wednesday afternoon of a honey badger trapped at the bottom of a skate bowl at the local skate park. Multiple officers came together and used their ingenuity and what materials they had available to corral the badger and eventually trap and release it safely.

Josh Weishar of the Heber City Police Department noted that the badger was pretty tired from trying to escape the skate bowl when they arrived at the scene, which helped ease the capture. They also used materials from animal control and a dog kennel that they serendipitously found nearby to contain the badger. None of the officers were bit or scratched in the process.

If you come across a wild animal in the community, the best course of action is to call police dispatch, according to Weishar. “We’ve had  a moose, a bear, and now a badger that we’ve had to remove instead of let wander off,” he said. “That’s one of the perks of living here in the in the mountains, we get wildlife and sometimes they get stuck or lost, and they have to get put somewhere else.”