Hedgehogs may need your help

[Jersali]

Hi all,
read this in a local paper today under the headline above.

"If a hedgehog is seen out in daylight, or looks ill or injured, people should always contain it in a box and contact a hedgehog carer"

I was always under the impression that non-interference is the best policy, I guess though with hedgehogs under threat general awareness of what to do and where to direct enquiries (included in article) is probably sound advice...
Al

[Crumble]

Hedgehog decline may well be (probably is) due to human built environments, such as fencing back gardens, preventing free access and thereby excluding hogs from a large area of resource for food/shelter.

Also, dog predation may be a factor in the decline.

So, IMO, interference is attempting to redredd the balance and give them a bit of a kickstart back to better numbers. Providing the other factors are addressed so they can support themselves.

If they're out in daylight they may be nursing mothers foraging in teh breeding season, but more likely to be a hog in trouble (dehydrated, poisoned, malnourished, worms, etc) and any small ones in daylight certainly need help.

Important to give them warmth from warm bottle wrapped in teatowel or similar or heatpad. As well as access to water. And contact local rehabber or wildlife centre/vet for advice and/or collection.

Rob

[CharlieCreek]

Many thousands of hedgehogs are rescued every year and the vast majority survive to be returned to the wild.

Sadly with the pressures on them, many directly man made others indirectly the population of our European Hedgehog in Britain is in serious decline so a hands off approach is not really an option.

We have ripped out hedgerows, lost woodland edge their natural habitat, built in the countryside concentrating badger populations, used pesticides that have reduced insect food. Then when they moved into the urban setting we removed hedges for easy maintenance fences, designed houses with pocket handkerchief gardens with barren lawns surrounded by gravel boards stopping their access and then we pumped pesticides into our gardens. Not to mention all those roads.

It's not a great place to be a hedgehog.

But with public awareness, rescuers and projects such as HedgeHog Street by the BHPS and PTES things can improve.

[Jersali]

Thanks for responses, sad to think that this little animal was very common when I were a lad!
I used to go to the local "rec" to count them in the evenings (double figures more often than not)....
Al

[Crumble]

We've got lots round our way and this autumn is being particularly kind to them. Loads of food around to get the late ones fat before the cold weather comes (if it ever will).

[DebbieP]

Thanks for the info! I've not seen any hedgehogs round our garden lately (but that could be just down to time of day). We have some woods behind the garden so probably a nice area for them! I'd love to help them more, have actually requested a hedgehog house + food for xmas, hopefully that'll give them a bit of a helping hand...

[Jim Ford]

I haven't seen a hedgehog, dead or alive, for getting on for ten years now. I used to get them in the garden and see probably one a day dead on the local roads this time of year.

I don't know why. This is a quiet residential estate, backing onto very large parkland, where little has changed in the last 80 years or so when it was built. It's ideal hedgehog territory.

Jim

[Crumble]

THere's a strong chance they'll be there unless they've been ousted by foxes or badgers. Especially badgers.

Otherwise, they'll probably be there. Best time to observe them IMO is about May or June time when they are courting. You can hear the males grunting as they try to woo the females by dancing around them and pay little attention to anyone or anything else.

If you go out to the park around midnight with a small torch and listen out for the rustlings and grunts, you may be lucky to see them.

Rob

[Jersali]

Originally Posted by DebbieP

Thanks for the info! I've not seen any hedgehogs round our garden lately (but that could be just down to time of day). We have some woods behind the garden so probably a nice area for them! I'd love to help them more, have actually requested a hedgehog house + food for xmas, hopefully that'll give them a bit of a helping hand...

Hello Debbie,
You are so lucky to have woodland at the end of the garden
I think the hedgehog house is a great xmas idea, hope you don't end uo with just a pile of logs though lol
Welcome to WAB
Al