How to help a hedgehog

(c) Photo by Stefan Heinemann on Unsplash

Did you know Born Free helps protect wild animals here in the UK? Our Resources for Vets provide best practice guidelines for vets treating wildlife casualties, while our small grants programme supports rescue centres countrywide

From the Fox Project in Kent, to Baby Beaks Garden Bird Rescue in Kinross, these remarkable facilities rescue and rehabilitate a huge range of injured, sick and orphaned animals. You help us provide funds for medicine, food, hospital equipment and release pens.

With baby mammals and birds aplenty, this time of year can be especially busy as centres receive a surge in calls and admissions. Like to do your bit to help? In this special week, we spoke to Born Free’s own UK wildlife rescuer, Tarnya Knight, about how best to care for hedgehogs.

How to help hogs

• Hedgehog homes, simply made from natural materials can provide a safe shelter and resting place. They should be placed in a quiet and shaded area of the garden where they won’t be disturbed.
• Make a modest hole in your garden fence at ground level so that hedgehogs can roam freely from garden to garden.
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  (c) Photo by Erik Karits on Unsplash

  If you have a pond, make sure that at least one side is gently sloping, or form a ramp, so that hedgehogs and other creatures can escape.

• Avoid using slug pellets, many contain metaldehyde which will kill a range of wildlife, including hedgehogs.
• Leave out a shallow dish of water, especially during dry spells. Hedgehogs like meaty cat or dog food, wet or dry. Feeding too many mealworms causes metabolic bone disease in hedgehogs, even if you just feed them a few you don’t know how many they are eating elsewhere. So, to be on the safe side, it is best not to feed them any.
• If using a strimmer, check the area for hedgehogs and other wildlife beforehand.
• In most cases a hedgehog seen out in the day needs help, except for a nesting or nursing mum who might have a mouth full of nesting material and/or appear on a mission foraging for food, and they will only be out for a short period.
• If you find an injured, sick or orphaned hedgehog it is always best to seek experienced help, so have the number for your local wildlife rescue or wildlife friendly vet to hand.
• If you must use netting for your plants, make sure that it is at least a foot above the ground, otherwise hedgehogs can become entangled in the netting. Netting can cause serious injury and or death to all wildlife.
• Foxes and badgers are often admitted to wildlife hospitals with ‘restriction injuries’ and, especially this time of year, their cubs can fall victims. So please remember to put away your football goal or sport netting when not in use, as well.

For more information on how you can help hedgehogs or to find out your nearest rescue please visit The British Hedgehogs Preservation Society website.