Angry badger shuts down luxury Stockholm hotel after scaring guests with 'crazy' behaviour

The animal would not leave the front of the hotel and the doors were locked

The badger was reportedly very threatening (PA)

A “crazy” badger has besieged a luxury hotel in Stockholm, blocking the entrance and stopping frightened guests from leaving.

Police were forced to intervene in the unexpected crisis, which unfolded at the Radisson Blu Waterfront early yesterday morning.

The angry animal was caught on CCTV footage pacing outside the hotel and charging towards the doors as trapped businessmen watched it from behind glass.

“A crazy or stressed-out badger is preventing the staff and clients at a major hotel from leaving their cars and from picking up their bags,” a Polisen statement said.

“The stressed animal was refusing to leave the place. So the police called in the local wildlife services to settle the problem.”

The badger appeared shortly after 5am and four hours later, police updated their website saying it had “chosen to leave”.

According to the AFP news agency, the stand-off only lasted 40 minutes and the badger is thought to have left before a professional arrived to trap it.

Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported that hotel staff found it “impossible” to chase the badger away and called police as a last resort.

Police spokesperson Albin Näverberg told the newspaper the animal may have been stressed from being woken up from hibernation and was hunting for food.

Kenth Larsson, the hotel’s sales and marketing manager, said the hungry animal foraged in bins.

“Then tried it to get into the hotel but the doors were still locked,” he added. “It sat outside and waited so we could not open the entrance.”

Stockholm is considered one of the greenest capitals in the world and is surrounded by bays, inlets, the Swedish countryside and woodland.