East Sussex WRAS

Ambulance rushing to the aid of a hedgehog which was being used as a football by youngsters in the Victoria Gardens area of Eastbourne.

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Rescuer were horrified to be called out to a hedgehog which had been rescued by local residents after being used as football by local youths in the children’s playground at Victoria Gardens in Eastbourne.

Rescuer Tony Neads from East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service (WRAS) attended on site to pick up the hedgehog after WRAS received the call. “The poor little girl was very frightened and had a number of broken and bent prickles over her body as a result of being kicked, so I rushed the hedgehog up to our Casualty Centre for further assessment” said Tony.

Local residents witnessed the attacked which occurred during the evening of 2nd September 2013.

“We have named her “Victoria” and she has been medicated and bedded down at our Centre and is going to be x-rayed by one of our vets tomorrow (4th Sept) as a precaution. We think she has been very lucky and only suffered severe bruising” said Trevor Weeks MBE the manager of WRAS’s Casualty Care Centre.

“Victoria” is thought to be about 5-6 weeks old and weighs about 250grams. “At this age the youngsters bones are still quite rubbery so we are hoping that Victoria has had a lucky escape, the X-ray will tell us more” added Trevor.

WRAS is shocked and appalled by the incident and has informed Sussex Police and hopes that they will be investigating the incident further. Anyone who witnessed the event is asked to contact Sussex Police and quoting reference 827 of 3rd September 2013.

Another little hedgehog in today, found next to its dead road casualty mother. The poor little thing is very weak and poorly and we hope he will pick up over the next 24 hours.

Some nice releases the last few days, a dove & a woody released in Uckfield & Buxted, Spike the hedgehog released last night in Buxted, one of 3 hogs from the same garden over 10 days, which seem to have struggled in the hot weather as nice & healthy otherwise. 2 out of 3 have been released, the 3rd is a 250g juvey so is in care. When doing the release I checked over another juvey in the feeder who is about 350g & looking well, he visits every night & householders will keep an eye on his weight gain over the next month. Our last gull at the moment was also released today, he was a juvenile with infected feet, also released was another Woody who had nasty injuries that had needed stitching & a dove who came in with a gaping wound on his side. An crow who came in very underweight & unable to fly was also released. These were all released in Eastbourne. Tonight we are hoping to release one of our hogs in Eastbourne who came in with a head wound & also gone out to soft release are 2 handreared young hogs, who have gone to a lovely garden in Hailsham where hogs visit each night. We are getting a few nestling feral pigeons at the moment which makes a change from tiny woodies, and also a large number of fledgling doves who have either collided with windows or caught by cats.

An update on the 3 babies born to Buttercup the hedgehog at the centre earlier in the year. They have all stayed around their release site for the last month using the boxes provided but are now looking like they are spreading their wings finding Winter accommodation. The 4 doves released from the aviary in Uckfield are doing fine, they are still hanging around sleeping rough at night & coming back to the aviary in the daytime! 4 out of 5 of the baby woodies I have at home are doing well. One of the 2 who fell from their nest when the tree was felled is having a hard time, he is unable to balance - the usual woody thing sitting back on his bum, and has an upset tummy, so only time will tell with him if his legs improve. HIs sibling is unaffected & fine. The 2 babies with the multiple crop holes are great, very strong & demanding & the one who had the severe head tilt is now almost perfect after I spent all last week warning people we may not be successful with him. The little hatchling woody is now 11 days old & in with them & is as strong as them. Some of these babies come in with some awful injuries & often with woodies leg problems, but if they are coping & 'happy' and interacting normally then we will always give them as much time as we can for them to recover, sometimes it takes days, sometimes weeks, occasionally months. Each is treated as an individual according to how it is coping & developing & at the back of our minds with some of these severe cases we have to brace ourselves that it may not be the outcome we would like at some point down the line, but we will always try our best for them Kathy x

An update on some of the hedgehogs in our care as promised. Victoria the young hog used as a football is doing great, responding to her worming treatment and is now nearly 400g, she is walking well on her broken leg. The police have even been to visit her. Crayon the young hog found down a drain is also doing well, they will both be with us till Spring I would think. 2 little male hogs handreared by Monica are now over 400g but again it is unlikely they will be released this year. Belgium one of our amputee hogs is going to his new home this week as is Dandelion the head tilt hog, who is going into a lovely area. 3 other handreared youngsters are also off to their release site this week where they will be well taken care of for the Winter. Mango our frequent flyer, who seems to think that if he drops below 1.2kg he needs help & tlc is also waiting to go home. 2 other young hogs Rubber & Kylie (a male!!) are also putting on weight nicely but will be here all Winter I think. 2 new youngsters over the weekend are Canteen - from a road where the hogs have had a lot of problems the last few years, and Library - a little female from outside rescuer Tony's house. Both just seem to need to gain weight & poo samples are clear so far. Newton who had a nasty eye infection is nearing the end of her treatment so being a large girl she should be ok for release. Alfie the little hog with a jaw injury is struggling at the moment & not gaining much weight so he is back to the vets tomorrow. Izzy the hoglet caught in the Christmas decoration is doing very well still, but unlikely to reach hibernation weight in time. Sharpener a little hog who came in with very swollen tissue in his eye socket is now great, the swelling & redness have gone down, the eye is receded but his other eye is perfcet. Barlow the youngest of the 3 hogs from the garden in Buxted is gaining weight fast & I think he may be releasable soon. Compass is a huge female who was out in the daytime for no apparent reason, not pregnant from what we can see, maybe struggling when the weather was hot & dry so she is soon off home. 2 other little hand reared hogs who were struggling a bit in a group are now settling down & gaining weight. Emmerdale our other amputation hog is doing very well, a slight infection but you wouldn't know it to look at him. Plaster is another hog who came in with swollen infected eye tissue & also a swollen nose with little blisters over it. His eye is now a lot better although receded, but the other eye is perfect, his nose is still swollen though so still some infection to clear up.

Hedgehog wise we have in care 2 babies with Monica, under 150g, youngster Crayon - in at 281g, now 525g found out in the day. Elementary, came in at 195g, now 360g, Victoria the football hog now 525g, handreared boys Bic and Biro, 481 & 567g, Fountain Pen, new in caught by a dog 245g, Hole Punch, out in the day, underweight with urine scald 226g. Adult Plaster who had an infected eye & nose, adult Emmerdale recovering from amputation, adult Newton eye infection & nasal discharge, Caretaker 348g eye removed, youngster Rubber came in at 388g now 505g, Sharpener now 575g eye infection, Kylie, out in the day, now 597g, Satchel new in 290g, Alice Cooper handreared, now 409g, youngsters Library now 514g, Protractor now 526g & Barlow now 617g & bauble hog Izzy is now 513g.

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Meet Bell, around 500g she was found trapped inside a garage in Uckfield, finders feared they had run her over moving the car. This isn't the case & it is likely she wandered in when the garage door was left open sometime in the last 3 or 4 days. She is very thirsty & dusty & is cold, underweight & a little wobbly which is to be expected. She has ots of clumps of dried mud on her so her last nest site wasn't a good one, it maybe she was looking for somewhere warm & dry when we had those cold nights. For now she is munching on some food & has Lectade to drink which will rehydrate her & she will go to the casualty centre later today or tomorrow but for now she is at mine. Kathy x

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'Casper' a little 285g hoglet in tonight from Seaford, 1 of 2 siblings, the other is awol. Sadly he is very underweight so it will be touch & go, but he is enjoying some slop tonight

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This great comparison photo was taken by one of our volunteers of before and after shots of 'Biro', a little hoglet he rescued at under 50g, reared by Monica with a little friend 'Bic' , they are now at volunteer Chris's house for soft release both over 700g

Another little 300g hedgehog in tonight, found in the road, but seems to have got into bother over the last few days as she has 2 puncture wounds possibly from a dog. They are small & should heal without too much problem & she is nice & rounded. Thanks to Chris & Darryl for bringing her to me for a check over. She has had antibiotics & settled down for the night with a tasty dinner. K

Gosh the hedgehogs are coming in thick and fast now with the first frosts, our normal mid October rush is now upon us 3 weeks late this year. The lightest recently was 105g, most this week are around 195-250g. I will try to update some of their stories on Tuesday. A lot of the ones in over the last few days have clearly tried to hibernate at under 300g, one in today has numerous rat bites which are infected, under his legs, on his body and rear end . Luckily we didn't have to rush him to the out of hours vet as our locum was in for his regular visit and was able to sedate him so we could get to all the wounds. Many of the hedgehogs are coming from addresses we have them from each year, so it is nice to know that the re released hogs have hopefully gone on to have young & these may be some of their offspring. It is common at the moment to get a call from someone who says I have your yearly hedgehog for you from my garden for the 4th year running Lets hope we don't get 5 or 6 from some gardens like last year. Its great to hear from people year on year though & the volunteers also get to know the finders & remember previous hogs from the addresses. O

Our first 2 hogs have gone outside into the shed tonight, they are Emmerdale, an amputee at 900g and Witch, who came from volunteer Sandi at 1.1kg with horrendous old wounds to her face and neck. She has healed beautifully but still has a lot of spine growth to come through before we could consider releasing her. If it regrows and we had a prolonged warm spell we will do as she is a regular garden visitor, but the spine loss at the injury site leaves her too vulnerable at the moment. Typically she is wide awake in the shed but not sign of the male Emmerdale emerging from his bed. They both spent some time in our indoor cold pens to acclimatise.