Hugh Warwick

Hopefully, Lou and myself will be meeting up with Hugh Warwick next Saturday, he is against hedgehogs being kept as pets full stop - doing a little research and found this recent article which explains his views further

The craze for pet hedgehogs will be a disaster

The fashion for keeping African Pygmy Hedgehogs as pets in the US has collapsed, leaving rescue centres to clear up the mess. The UK won't be any different, writes Hugh Warwick.

By Hugh Warwick
11:58AM GMT 11 Dec 2009
19 Comments
Yet again, thanks to a cute photograph, someone is touting the African Pygmy Hedgehog as the new ‘must-have’ pet. According to the Telegraph they are “stealing the hearts of rich women…ousting designer dogs like Chihuahuas from their handbags.”

For over 20 years I have studied hedgehogs. I have written scientific papers, I have helped save them from the cull up in the Uists, I went to China to try and find one called Hugh – and I have even written a book – A Prickly Affair, My Life With Hedgehogs.

And for all that work, there is one chapter in the book that always gets commented on when I am doing talks and signings. People find it hard to believe that I did not make up the goings on at the Rocky Mountain Hedgehog Show in Denver, Colorado (it is a bit like Crufts, only with an obvious difference). People find it harder to believe that I did not make up the International Hedgehog Olympic Games that takes place after the hedgehog show.

The only hedgehogs in the USA are African Pygmy Hedgehogs (APHs), kept as pets. They were, briefly, the next ‘big thing’ in the fad-pet world. Bored of terrapins and pot-bellied pigs, people leapt at the chance of owning a hedgehog, especially with the promise of great returns for their investment – like all pet crazes, there is something like pyramid-selling going on. As the craze takes hold, people invest in the animals to breed – and to breed breeding pairs to sell on to other people who want to join the racket. This did two things in the US, first it concentrated the bloodline and generated the fatal condition Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome (no, I am not joking) and second it became economically unsustainable.

And, like all crazes, it collapsed, and now amazing people like Zug Standing Bear, who runs the Flash and Thelma Memorial Hedgehog Rescue Centre, are left to clear up the mess.

What will happen if the craze kicks off in the UK? I believe it will be a disaster. We already have a resident hedgehog population – America has no wild hedgehogs (just some very grumpy ones made to dress up for hedgehog shows). There will, undoubtedly, be unscrupulous people who will try and sell our native hedgehog as a pet. This will put even more pressure onto already vulnerable populations.

And when people get bored of pet hedgehogs (nocturnal pets have their disadvantages), what will they do? Well, the less bright will just jettison them into the countryside to join all the other hedgehogs, where they will die unless they are found and handed into the wonderful network of wildlife rescuers. And what will they do with an African Pygmy Hedgehog? They cannot be released.

So, please, think again before getting sucked into the next fad-pet craze. These are beautiful little animals, but they are wild animals. And treating them like accessories demeans both the hedgehogs and the people who briefly think it is a good idea.



I can take onboard many of his points and can see this being an interesting meet.

Books that have been written by Hugh

Works by Hugh Warwick organize | filter

The Hedgehog's Dilemma: A Tale of Obsession, Nostalgia, …
A Prickly Affair: My Life with Hedgehogs
A Prickly Affair: The Charm of the Hedgehog

I think he really would be a very interesting person to meet. I can certainly see where he is coming from with regards to all the above... Here in th UK, we always follow not too far behind with USA.... You can see how many supposedly micro pigs are looking for forever homes now... And there was the fashionable times of teenage mutant turtles... Remember T...U...R...T...L...E POWER!!??
That's why it is so important to ensure we give out the right messages to those wanting hoggies as pets.. Also, to not encourage breeding left right and centre... Trying to make a quick buck and then encouraging nothing short of hedgehog farming... Which basically, will lose the good health and well being of our prickly friends..

I have Hugh's book...A Prckly Affair - my life with hedgehogs. If anybody would like me to send it on to them, please let me know...

xoxox

i didnt relies he was against keeping hogs as pets...i thought he was all about the wild hogs!!

interesting...

I am hoping to convey that whilst I understand his concerns, ethical breeders and responsible owners will pull together and hopefully put an end to back yard breeders.

Our APH play an important role in fund raising for our wildies and by talking to the people who visit the stand we can get across the correct information to these people - it doesn't take much for people to get onboard and spread the word.

I am known as the hog lady locally and all poorly wildies are brought to me and then I take them over to Virginia, no matter what time of day/night they come in.

The two can work hand in hand

Another Article I have just happened across

Rare is the time that I find myself in agreement with Les Stocker at St Tiggywinkles wildlife hospital (well, okay, not that rare, it is just that I am still smarting from some rather snooty behaviour) – but this report on the BBC news website about the attempt to promote African Pygmy Hedgehogs as pets in the UK is spot on … While it did what the BBC is obliged to do, and give two sides to a story, it clearly came down on the side of sanity.

As I have said before, on here and in my book, those extremely cute little hedgehogs – mash ups of Atelerix albiventris and Atelerix algirus - in fact, here is some proof of quite how cute – they should not be encouraged as pets in the UK.

In the USA and Canada, should mainly focus on the welfare of the hedgehogs being kept in captivity – though I am still keen to address the issue of keeping wild animals at all … how long does it take a wild animal to be bred into a domestic one? It is about 20 years since the first ones were exported from Nigeria to the USA. Are these still wild animals? Could they survive back in their original habitat? I don’t know.

But in the UK there are two additional problems. First, numpties who think they can make a fast buck by trying to sell wild European hedgehogs as pets to other numpties who think they would rather not pay the £150 for the pleasure of a spiky nocturnal pet. It will happen if the craze catches on.

And secondly, the inevitability of boredom … there is a reason why the craze of keeping pet hedgehogs in the USA crested quickly and then quickly died. These are not great pets for most people. And children, especially, will get bored. And what to do? Many will be released into the wild (why not, there are hedgehogs out there already says the numpty) … where they will die, or be found and handed into one of the already overburdened wildlife rescue hospitals around the country. The British Hedgehog Preservation Society has a list of active carers on their website – it would be interesting to know how many have already received unwanted pygmy hedgehogs. I know of at least six.

And what do the carers do? They cannot release the hogs, and they do not want to get involved with selling them on … so they are left with them.

So – please – please – however cute they may be – think about how much more wonderful the experience is of seeing a wild animal snuffling around your garden at night – and put your time, money and effort into doing what you can to save our native hedgehogs (for example Hedgehog Street), rather than becoming side-tracked by the selfish desires to mount a potentially damaging must-have-pet craze.

This is so true though.... Could also cause another drop in numbers of our own native hedgehog should anybody be requesting them from other countries...

I wonder if anybody would dare.... They probably would....

xoxox

A meeting has now being agreed between Hugh Warwick , I will be taking my camera . Meetings like this are very good for the forum as i am under the impression from reading snippets of Hugh's book that he isn't keen on the owning of African Hedgehogs .x Looking forward to ti .x

I shall be taking Blossom as well x

Looking forward to it .x

a very successful meeting, lovely man and very interesting, lots of pictures were being taken, as well as video recordings....god help me......but it was all gravy baby...lol

Can't wait to see and hear!
xoxox

What do you mean....gravy baby???

its off, austin powers...

OK...but what does it mean? xx

its all good, lol sheila..you crack me up....

Aha!! I see now...all these newfangled sayings...xx

You're becoming sooooo hip Sheila!!

xoxox

Hey I know....it's all gravy baby.....hahaha....must try and use this whenever possible...!!!

Looking forward to hearing if anyone's views have been altered/changed! x

It was a very interesting meet - Hugh was a very interesting person to meet and to hear his views and both Lou and I said that we understood and believed in his thoughts - will put together something later about the meet.

looking forward to hearing all about it xxx