Four tiny hoglets on the mend in hedgehog hospital
- Published
This prickly pair are residents at a special hedgehog hospital. They have been in intensive care, along with two other little friends, who were rescued a couple of weeks ago after being orphaned.
The hospital is run by Annie Parfitt, a teacher who has nursed thousands of hedgehogs back to health at Help a Hedgehog Hospital in Brimscombe, Stroud, in the UK. It is part of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, a national group that aims to look after the hedgehog population. In recent years hedgehog numbers have hugely reduced. The creatures are very vulnerable to road traffic, getting caught in netting or badger attacks. It is thought there are around one million hedgehogs in England, Wales and Scotland, compared to 30 million in the 1950s.
When the four hoglets arrived the females weighed just 35g each, and the males weighed 80g. The four babies had to be warmed up using special heat pads before Annie could try to feed them. Two were very dehydrated after being left alone in their nest and two were covered in fly eggs, which Annie carefully removed with a toothbrush.
Nursing the little hoglets back to health is a full-time job. Annie feeds them every three hours with a special milk, usually given to puppies, because it is gentle on their tummies.
Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant, meaning they cannot drink cow's milk. They take their milk from little pipettes, just one millilitre at a time. When their teeth come through they can then be given meat and biscuits made for kittens. Annie also has to help them go to the toilet, to make sure their tummies don't get bloated.
Annie says there is a lot that children can do to help the hedgehog population, like leaving out fresh water or cat biscuits in a bowl. She adds that if you see little bits of mud in the water, it is likely from a hedgehog nose. You can also help by leaving small gaps under fencing, so that the creatures are open to a network of gardens. She says hedgehogs are very shy and should only come out at night, so if you see one in the day there may be a problem, especially if it is a baby or looks unhealthy.
These four hoglets are now on the mend and will be released back into the wild when they are old enough. Annie says helping hedgehogs is her 'passion' and Help a Hedgehog Hospital is now so busy she is hoping to raise money to build a bigger unit. But for now, her next job is to find them all names.
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