Hedgehog experts

Re: Hedgehog experts

jojofruits — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 13:28:45 GMT

So do I :)

Re: Hedgehog experts

Elerrina — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 17:46:25 GMT

Personally I agree with vales policy. It might seem harsh to some, but you have to remember that they're not like dogs or cats. They don't enjoy human contact, we're just another danger to them.

Re: Hedgehog experts

jojofruits — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 15:30:14 GMT

Hi there

Unfortunately hedgehogs do not do well in the wild with a missing front leg, they do an awful lot of digging about for little invertibrates..missing back legs are a bit of a different matter

Hedgehogs need at least 12 normal sized house gardens for a territory.. they travel miles at night, and its really difficult to decide whether or not this is fair to a wild animal. Although they may not show outwards signs of stress it is something that must be very seriously considered. a " tame " hedgehog" is very rarely that if they have come from the wild originally

Vale Wildlife Rescue have a policy of not keeping disabled wildlife, but I know that Tiggywingles in Haddenham do.

At the very least she needs minimal human interaction and to be left as wild as possible.. sometimes hedgehogs can be kept together, I wonder if they do that at Tiggys

Re: Hedgehog experts

Elerrina — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:16:52 GMT

You could try contacting Vale wildlife hospital. You definitely can't release her she wouldn't survive and would be illegal under the abandonment of animals act. It's very hard to hedgehog proof a garden too. Personally I would be inclined to put her to sleep. It might seem harsh to some but wild animals belong in the wild, prolonged human contact is extremely stressful to them and they roam miles in a night time, confining her to even a large garden still wouldn't be enough. With wildlife you have to think much more objectively, no sentimentality about it. Just the other day we put a hedgehog to sleep because it had dystocia. We had her under ga so could have got the babies out, but what if it happened again after we released her? We couldn't guarantee that she would be able to birth naturally, so decided that unfortunately the best thing would be euthanasia.

I would also just like to point out that our practice is pretty good at treating wildlife and if there's anything that needs more intensive treatment I take it to Vale wildlife so we do deal with a fair few hedgehogs each year =)