Hedgehogs

This month, Eloise, Mum, Dad, and myself went to East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (WRAS), for a hedgehog experience.

The experience is limited to four people, and starts with an information session about hedgehogs.

We learned so much, including how to look after them.

If you stumble across a hedgehog nest with hoglets, put it back as you found it. Mother hedgehogs are tough and may leave their young if they’ve been disturbed.

A hedgehog out during the day is in trouble, and should be taken into care.

If you are feeding hedgehogs, good food is cat and dog food in jelly – not gravy! They can have mealworms, but only a few as a treat. You can also get hedgehog biscuits.

Hedgehogs have to deal with a lot, including the risk of “pop off syndrome”, where their strong skirt muscle that ordinarily curls them into a protective ball instead folds over the pelvis and requires a vet to anaesthetise the hog and pull the muscle back around.

A hedgehog suffering from trauma can also inflate with air, and requires a vet to suck the air out.

Poor things.

After the talk, we had a tour of the facility. There were so many animals in their care, mostly birds.

A lot of the birds in WRAS’ care were the result of cats. Most of the animals WRAS rescues are there due to the actions – directly or indirectly – of humans.

The day before we arrived, WRAS had a seal! Seals are assessed at the centre before being taken to an RSPCA location with appropriate water facilities.

We saw a Buzzard that had been brought in because it wasn’t flying, and was now flying back and forth in its room, and a fox that had been suffering from mange.

WRAS works to rehabilitate animals so that they can be released back into the wild. Unfortunately, there are just too many animals and not enough places for animals to go that would not be able to survive in the wild.

If the animal will not survive in the wild or would not have a good quality of life, it is put to rest, which I think is both the kindest and most pragmatic thing to do in a harsh world.

Finally, it was time to meet our hedgehogs!

In the room with the hedgehogs was a tawny owl and a jackdaw. They looked at us with curiosity as we learned how to clean the hedgehog cages.

We took on the role of the volunteers at the centre, making notes of whether the hedgehog had eaten or pooped. We cleaned out the dirty paper and replaced the food and water.

We would take the hedgehog out of the cage for this, using scrap newspaper to protect our hands from the spines.

Most of the hedgehogs were asleep, but a few were awake and active, having a good sniff!

We all had such a good day, I’d highly recommend it to anyone looking for something different to do.