Hedgehog Hope

The original distressed 
hedgehog which could 
not be rescued

 My daughter-in-law recently tried to rescue a distressed hedgehog which someone had found. In spite of her best efforts, wrapping him in a cloth to help warm him; giving him water etc, the hedgehog died, his well-being no doubt further undermined by being handled by well-intentioned humans. She ‘What’s App’ ed a photo of the little animal to family and friends, with his story and eventually, she painted ten hedgehog pictures [she is an artist] and sold each for £60 to raise money for the hedgehog protection society in Ibiza where the little drama had occurred.  I loved this little interaction and my interest in hedgehog protection was stimulated.

Kim-the-artist's portrait of a healthy hedgehog

Hedgehogs are not easy to see or find they are nocturnal animals which hibernate and are rightly protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981. This means that it is illegal to harm or disturb hedgehogs, their nests or their young. Despite which they have recently appeared on the IUCN Red List as ‘near threatened’ after the discovery that their numbers had decreased by around 30% in the past decade.  This decline is chiefly the unintended result of the loss of their natural habitat such as large gardens, parks, farmland and woodland with the use of green spaces increasingly allowed for construction. In response to these man-made interventions, hedgehogs have been forced to expand their territory with a subsequent increase in physical risk for them.

An appealing interpretation

Hedgehogs are omnivores, happy to eat a wide variety of food such as insects, worms, slugs, berries but the increased use of pesticides and land management practices, has impacted these sources and their essential food supply has decreased. Climate change with its consequent impact on temperatures and weather patterns has become an increasing threat to these hibernating animals. During hibernation, hedgehogs shut down all non-essential bodily functions to conserve as much energy as possible and they are increasingly emerging later than formerly when their wider search for food, which is often no longer immediately available, increases the risk of starvation and death.

Mike, the children's author,
and builder of hedgehog shelters

An interesting coincidence then occurred; my son, visiting me in Bury St Edmunds, went to the Saturday market and was amazed and delighted to find Mike Doughty, a local man with a passion for hedgehogs and their conservation. Mike, from Haverhill, has had more than his fair share of difficulties in life, including cancer involving a hospital period and loneliness when separated from his roots, an experience exacerbated by Covid and Lockdown.  He had always been interested in wildlife, and he used this interest as self-help at first though his eventual posts on Facebook stimulated many expressions of appreciation and admiration for his positive take on his own situation and his growing interest in hedgehogs. In 2023 he wrote a children’s book, Robo Hog: A New Superhero for Nature and in 2013 he launched his own organisation: www.soshedghehog.org. He is currently raising funds for local hedgehog rescue centres across the U.K. and aiming to raise awareness of how people can help them in their own gardens and local parks.  My son’s chance encounter with Mike, the hedgehog man, coinciding with my daughter-in-law's paintings of hedgehogs after her unsuccessful rescue attempt, seemed astonishing and certainly led to this blog and my current interest in those little spiky creatures!

Example of currently hedgehog-aware
family which now owns a shelter
placed in a large garden
almost designed to offer hedgehog
sanctuary

Hope is obviously not lost for the Hedgehog Brotherhood. Efforts are clearly being made to help their survival by raising awareness of the threats facing them and publicising measures to help protect their habitats and food sources. A keyway for individuals to contribute is to fashion hedgehog-friendly gardens, pesticide-free and with access to food and water; sheltered areas for nesting and hibernation and space for tiny highways through the jungle. Mike, our local hedgehog man, has fashioned little hedgehog houses for suitable garden placement, which he sells on Bury St Edmunds market, with any proceeds going to hedgehog projects nationwide. To my astonishment, when looking online for a photo or three to illustrate this blog, I discovered there are several charities specifically established to care for and rescue, hedgehogs. All of them seem to offer versions of hedgehog shelters and there are several schemes to attract financial donations towards the recovery effort. Gathering together this unexpected bonus  I discovered a number of biographical facts, the most unnerving of which was that perhaps 50% of hedgehogs die while in the nest or in hibernation, unnoticed by lawnmowers, strimmers, scythes, shears and, of course, humans.

Hedgehog shelters available
from 
soshedgehog.com
or Bury St Edmunds' Saturday market

A hoglet; his tiny size emphasises his vulnerability

Woodside offers this log shelter for £19.99
suitable for hedgehogs and guinea pigs.
Often these sanctuaries are labelled as
habitat or hibernation shelters

 

 

Memento of the unsuccessful attempt
to save this dear little heyhoge.


An Etymological Postscript 
First use of the word, 'heyhoge' was in 1450
from Middle English.
A 'heyg' was a hedge; 
'hoge' described the pig-like snout.
Other popular mediaeval names were
'hedge pig';
'furze pig' [furze=gorse];
urchin.
The Romany word for hedgehog is
hotchi-witchi
often abbreviated to 'hotchi'