[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Published on Tuesday 27 September 2011 19:50
A wildlife lover who runs a hedgehog sanctuary told today how he battled in vain to save two animals after they had been kicked around in the street by youngsters - one inside a football.
Steve Whalley said “mindless cruelty” had been committed by a gang of around eight to 10 teenagers who were seen to pick up a hedgehog from the middle of the road.
A passer-by thought they were saving it from being hit by a car in Moss Side, Leyland.
Instead, they sliced open a football, placed the small animal inside and kicked it around.
The witness intervened and took the hedgehog to Preston Hedgehog Rescue, Steve’s sanctuary in Fulwood Hall Lane, Fulwood, Preston. Sadly, the animal later died.
And, just a few weeks earlier, Steve, who runs the centre with daughter Stevie, had tried to help another stricken hedgehog.
A member of the public took the animal to Steve after seeing two girls, believed to be aged just 12 and eight, kicking the animal around in Broadgate, Preston. They left it injured in the road.
Despite emergency treatment, it also died a few hours later.
Steve said: “People don’t think anything about getting a hedgehog and kicking it half to death. I think people need to know youngsters are doing this. It’s just mindless cruelty.
“The kids should know better at that age but I think all of it has got to do with parental guidance. It’s lack of morals, lack of parental guidance. What they don’t realise is it’s a serious criminal offence.”
Steve, who cared for around 500 hedgehogs last year, said he had since been told an RSPCA officer and the police had visited the girls’ parents in relation to the incident.
Tue Mar 06, 2012 7:44 pm
