European Hedgehog Awareness

The Western European Hedgehog is proven to be a popular wild animal in Britain. Indeed, a survey carried out in 2005, namely ‘Wild About Gardens’ confirmed the Hedgehog to be Britain’s favourite wild animal, even knocking the popular Robin off the top spot.

The Hedgehog is also a popular character featured in children’s story books. Some of us may be familiar with the fascinating ‘Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle’ by Beatrix Potter, whereby the main character is portrayed by a Hedgehog. Fictional characters are often given Hedgehog traits owing to the fact they are considered to be a ‘no-nonsense, hard-working’ animal.

That said on Hedgehog popularity, it is shocking to discover these staggering statistics:

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Hedgehogs have declined by 50% over the last 25 years. Half of their population has vanished.

The BTO, just one of several organisations which have been collecting information regarding our spikey friend, confirmed the crisis that many of us have feared for a long time: the European Hedgehog is dying out, with estimations of extinction by 2050.

But the alarming revelation could in fact be worse. The BTO also added to their report a suspected decline of momentous 40% in just 10 years.

There is evidence to suggest that the Hedgehog is already somewhat extinct or ‘not seen’ in areas of Britain. The People’s Trust for Endangered Species and The British Hedgehog Preservation Society teamed up during 2006 to launch a survey with the intention of mapping out where in Britain Hedgehogs are, and are not. Roughly 20,000 people participated in the said survey, namely ‘Hogwatch’ to help give an indication as to where Hedgehogs are most in decline. Previous surveys had revealed that, although Hedgehogs are considered to be widespread in Western Europe, their numbers are decreasing in some rural parts of England and perhaps Wales.

Upon reading the results and map within the report, I was unsurprised they found London to be, in general ‘a Hedgehog no-go area’; with a huge dollop of red over that particular area of Britain (red indicates no/very few Hedgehog sightings.) On the other hand, places further north of London and to the east, for example, revealed lots of Hedgehog sightings, with a sprinkling of green dots where participants of the survey had sent in their results.

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But what is responsible for the plight of what is supposed to be Britain’s favourite form of wildlife? Suggested reasons include the continuing intensification of agriculture (namely reductions in permanent pasture, loss of hedgerows and field margins) as well as fragmentation of habitat in urban areas and predation by badgers.

Habitat loss is considered to be a major contributing factor when researching for reasons of Hedgehog decline. Apart from that, and the reasons listed above, some people consider Hedgehogs to be ‘disappearing in a secret way’. Personally, I think human interference with the environment is definitely an obvious reason. Not to generalize ‘human interference with the environment’ because this includes a whole bunch of other reasons for the plight of the European Hedgehog and I will now discuss a few of them.

Building, building and more building, a contributing reason of Hedgehog decline: the creation of houses, roads and the like. All this building cannot be doing our native Hedgehog any favours. The fact they are now considered to be a rare sighting in London: a huge city, and the capital of England, serves as evidence for that statement. In addition, many gardens are now having modern ‘makeovers’ whereby their lawns are paved over with slabs, concrete or the like and most of the undergrowth is ripped out. Such gardens are not Hedgehog friendly: the insects which Hedgehogs feed on are unable to live in such conditions: Hedgehogs themselves are unable to live in such conditions.

side from that, a new problem has come to light: many gardens are now constructing walls and fences which restrict Hedgehogs. True, Hedgehogs are agile climbers, but most walls and fences offer nothing to hold on to. This prevents Hedgehogs from traveling the path they were intending to. Hedgehogs are said to travel around 1 mile per night, and we should not restrict them from being able to do so. Traveling such a distance allows them to forage for food and find a mate. On the other hand, as well as restricting Hedgehog movement, walls and fences can also cause Hedgehogs to travel even further than they were intending to. Rescues sometimes receive exhausted Hedgehogs with the pads of their feet clearly damaged from walking a huge distance on a desperate bid to forage for food.

I’ll break it down: in restricting a Hedgehog’s movement, we are minimizing their chances of finding food. We are minimizing their chances of finding a suitable mate and therefore the chance to breed. We are minimizing their chances of finding a suitable place to hibernate in the winter. Finally, if not restricting their movement, we are causing them to walk further which can lead to exhaustion. An exhausted Hedgehog will be weak and more prone to being preyed upon.

Clearly, the construction of walls and fences in our gardens are interfering with the Hedgehog’s natural behaviour, whether it is restricting their movement or causing them to walk a greater distance. Working to prevent this from happening is ‘Hedgehog Street’: a community project set up by The People’s Trust for Endangered Species and The British Hedgehog Preservation Society. The project encourages people to work together in their community and create a corridor through their gardens which allows Hedgehogs and other wildlife to pass through. This can be achieved by creating a 5” gap under your wall or fence.

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We also have abuse of Hedgehogs to contend with. Whilst this is said to be a minority of people (most of which are listed as ‘youths’ or teenagers my age in the news) the level of violence I have read about sickens me to the core, especially as it is people my age. The violent crimes include kicking Hedgehogs as though they are footballs and attaching fireworks to Hedgehogs or setting them off near the Hedgehogs. The victims of such horrific crimes sustain serious injuries or die: and what a cruel way to die. Such behaviour should not be tolerated yet sadly is continuing to happen. This is one of the main reasons I am aiming to reach teenagers in my educating of the European Hedgehog and I hope that my work will make a difference. Instead of ‘preaching to the already converted’ I am hoping to alert non-Hedgehog and wildlife lovers as to the dangers of, for example, using a strimmer in their garden (strimmers can seriously injure or kill Hedgehogs.)

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Finally, I will wrap up this article by including some advice with which you can help the European Hedgehog.

You can feed Hedgehogs cat or dog food in chicken flavours with a bowl of fresh water. NOT bread or milk, which can cause a Hedgehog to become very ill.

You can build or buy a Hedgehog house and place it in your garden which will provide them with a warm and safe place to sleep, nest and hibernate.

You could build or buy a Hedgehog feeding station, which allows them to eat the food you provide them in safety without foxes or cats stealing the food.

Instead of giving your garden a ‘modern makeover’, allow you garden to become somewhat overgrown in areas which provide cover for Hedgehogs as well as the insects which Hedgehogs feed on.

Create a 5” gap under your fall of fence to allow Hedgehogs to pass through your garden without being restricted.