Last year, 2020 was an extremely busy one for us here at the Hedgehog Rescue. We reached our third birthday and although we were not able to celebrate, we did manage to redecorate and completely revamp our little rescue.
Another milestone was admitting our 500th hedgehog. The Rescue has come such a long way since we started taking in sick and injured hedgehogs. We could not have achieved this without the support of Friars Moor vets.
We are so busy now that we need volunteers each morning to help keep the hedgehogs clean and our rescue tidy. Being wild animals, hedgehogs have not learnt to keep their area clean!
So we have assistance from three lovely and dedicated people. David works three days a week, Penny one day a week and Ian two days but fills in when needed. We are actively looking for another person to cover Saturday mornings.
One of our volunteers cleans the cages, while the hedgehogs are weighed and medicated as necessary. It can take up to three hours with two people working to get all the hedgehogs cleaned out and ready for the day with fresh bedding, food and water. This time of year we are full to capacity so we also have friends who overwinter hedgehogs for us until the spring.
One of our recent success stories is Hugebert, who was happily sleeping in his nest when he was cut on both sides of his body by a hedge trimmer.
The wounds were extensive, but clean and fairly superficial.
On a Sunday night Friars Moor vets sutured him back together, and the same night he came home to us for nursing care. We gave him antibiotics, lots of quiet time and kept him warm while he gently recovered.
Hugebert is now living up to his name – weighing in at 1290 grams, he is one of our big boys!
He has not yet decided to hibernate as some in the Rescue have, but is a gentle giant who to my great relief can curl into a ball now his injury is healed. This means we can release him in the spring so he can live out his life as hedgehogs should.
Ed – Jeanette’s far too polite to ask for support direct, so I’m doing it for her. Last year the British hedgehog was officially classified as ‘vulnerable to extinction’ . If you’d like to support the hedgehogs there are a number of things you can do.
Firstly, go and follow the Rescue’s Facebook page – where you are not only kept up to date with news, but upon which there is also a gratuitous supply of cute hedgehog videos.
Secondly, Jeanette has an Amazon wishlist set up for items she’s in need of – purchase from the list and the item will go automagically to the Rescue.
Finally, you can donate here.
“Without your help we would not be able to continue our valuable care of these beautiful, grumpy, smelly and endearing little creatures.”
