12/01/2024
On Wednesday we received a call from a gentleman requesting our help. He had been looking after two hedgehogs, one he had brought in the week before Christmas and one he had picked up three days previously. He was not at all concerned about the first one as he claimed it was doing fine, but he was worried about the second hedgehog as it had not eaten and did not seem well. He was advised that both hedgehogs needed to come into the rescue urgently.
The hedgehog he had kept since before Christmas was very cold but outwardly looked reasonably well, later checks showed that he was suffering from three internal parasitic conditions, for which he is now receiving treatment. The hedgehog he had kept for three days was in a complete state of collapse, she was very seriously dehydrated and hypothermic. Sadly, she passed away in the evening. The gentleman admitted that this was not the first time he had kept sick hedgehogs in his garage. We made it clear to him that this was completely unacceptable and against the law.
It is becoming more common lately that people think they can nurse a sick hedgehog themselves, only to panic and call a rescue after a few days when the hedgehog is not improving. The image with this post (courtesy of The Hedgehog Cabin) really says it all.
We have 1,600 followers on our page, you follow us as you care about hedgehogs.
The simple fact is that the longer a sick hedgehog is kept away from specialist rescue the less its chance of survival.
We need to get this message out everywhere. Please share this post, (or at least the poster image) with your contacts and in the local groups you belong to, this way it will reach a lot of people and it might just save other hedgehogs suffering the same fate as the ones we collected on Wednesday.
Thank you.
