Before moving to this country, I had never seen a hedgehog
before. There are no hedgehogs native to
America, just as there are no porcupines native to U.K. I also
naively thought hedgehogs were related to the porcupines, but there is no
connection between the two, besides the fact they both have quills of some
sort. A few weeks ago my kids and their
friends saw a hedgehog out front by our house.
The kids ran down and took some photos and were bemused for a while but
eventually I had them come in. They were concerned as it had a few ticks on its
body. We didn’t do anything. I remembered a friend had contacted a local
hedgehog rescue centre after finding one wrapped up in sweaters in her garage. I contacted the centre regarding the hedgehog
that we had seen and they said hedgehogs are rarely out in daytime unless they
are unwell and if we were to see it again might be worth bringing in. We haven’t
seen it again yet, but it did start me on a campaign to learn more about hedgehogs. There are lots of different breeds of
hedgehogs but the European hedgehog is the one that is in decline. This is
mainly because of badgers and foxes that like the hedgehog delicacy and also
because of their unfortunate encounters with cars. Combine that with trimmers and slug pellets
and you have a species that is on the endangered list. Hedgehogs are good climbers and swimmers and enjoy
snacking on peanuts, raisins, berries, melons and mushrooms. The end of November is a busy time for
hedgehogs as a lot of juvenile hedgehogs come out then to strike out on their
own. To learn even more about hedgehogs
or to support the cause please contact:
www.pricklytales.wordpress.com
or prickly tales on Facebook (only Oxfordshire rescue centre)
www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk
This site also has a wealth of
information and good colouring pages for kids!
