2009 Review
2009 was yet another very busy year, with the " hosprickal" taking in over 350 hedgehogs, mainly juveniles, with very few adults, contrary to 2008 when it was mostly adults and tiny, unweaned hoglets.
Whilst I was running backwards and forwards collecting hedgehogs from all over the county, almost daily visits to the vet with the sick and injured, answering the phones and generally taking care of the patients, my helpers were busy organizing raffles, baking cakes, making sandwhiches and trifles for the tea and cakes day, which was a success once again.
On August 5th, Worseley Wildlife Centre held an open day with the theme this year to be the hedgehog, and to draw the publics attention to the plight of these charming and useful animals. I was honoured to be asked to bring some hedgehogs along for people to see and for myself to answere questions.
It turned out to be an interesting day with far more people attending than I had expected,and who were very keen to see the hedgehogs that I had brought along.
On Bank Holiday Monday, I was asked to attend the Wildlife Open Day on Cannock Chase yet again, and once more a lot of interest was shown in the hogs, particulary by the children. I do feel strongly that children should be taught from an early age to respect nature and wildlife, after all, it is their future.
We held a jewellery party towards Christmas, selling beautiful pieces handmade by MelOnie Jane who very kindly donated a percentage of the sales to the sanctuary. it was a lovely night with the Christmas decorations up and plenty of goodies to eat, encluding, of course, mince pies!
We are now making plans for this coming year, first and foremost will be the "Hosprickal" which I hope to improve drastically so that it will hold three times the amount of hedgehogs.
I would like to welcome Wendy to the team, since she joined us in September, she has proved invaluable, collecting hedgehogs for me, and taking on some of my patients when I simply had no room for them.
Special thanks must go to Jon, Wendy`s son, who has built a new web site for me, leaving his dad on standby to help me when I get in a mess with it !
REMEMBER, IF YOU SEE A HEDGEHOG OUT IN THE DAYTIME, THERE COULD BE SOMETHING WRONG WITH IT. THE LONGER YOU LEAVE IT, THE LESS CHANCE IT HAS OF BEING SAVED. IT MAY LOOK LIVELY, IT MAY EVEN EAT, BUT THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THAT IT IS ONLY A FEW DAYS FROM DEATH.
2010
MARCH.
The first strimmer accident was collected from Straitons. The strimmer had taken chunks of prickles off close to the skin and luckily the actual damage to the skin itself was`nt too bad. This hedgehog looked ill, dull eyed, and would not eat at first. After 5 days, he/she is bright eyed and eating well. However, a lot of damage has been done. Prickles that have come out by the roots will grow again, ones that have just been broken or cut, will not be replaced, so this hedgehog now has less protection from predators.
If you must use strimmers, please check the area to be cut down first for hiding, nesting or hibernating wildlife.
APRIL
All of the hedgehogs that have spent the winter in the "Hosprickal" have now been released back into the wild, and as it is now Spring and the weather is good, the plants in the garden are growing and the slugs are emerging to feed off them. As the slugs come out, so do the containers of slug pellets!
Hungry after months of hibernation, the hedgehogs gobble up the poisoned slugs with the inevitable result.
The first two hogs that were brought to me this year had eaten these deadly slugs.I struggled with the first one for a week, trying to save its life, to no avail. The next one was in such a pathetic state that I took it straight away to the vets to be put out of its misery. When will we ever get it through to people to stop using these pellets, there are other methods of controlling slugs, so why not use them and help save our hedghogs which are already under threat from other sources. (Having said that, a lady has just travelled 20miles to bring me a hedgehog that died before our eyes, of poisoning)
For the last 3 weeks I have taken in an average of one hedgehog a day, most of them just needing feeding up after coming out of hibernation. Some hedgehogs hibernate when they simply are not heavy enough, some die because they dont have enough fat to live off, some wake up weak and starving, and if they are`nt given some help, they too will die, the rest of the inpatients are either injured or sick.
JUNE
Its mid June now and the orphaned baby hedgehogs are arriving, 15 over one weekend alone, most of them to be hand reared.
One gentleman decided to move his shed only to find a mum and her 5 hoglets underneath, there were 5, but he accidently trod on one and killed it.
The following day, a gardener started cutting down a rough patch at the bottom of his garden to discover a nest of yet again 5 babies but no mum. One of the babies was dead, so the mother must have left some time ago. Another died on the way to the "Hosprickal". Another one was very cold and as expected, died in the night, which left me with two!
A few hours later, someone phoned with the same story, clearing their overgrown garden and coming across yet another mum with this time 4 babies.
On that same evening, a young couple arrived at my door looking very worried and asked if I was the hedgehog lady. They said that they had found a baby hedgehog in the road and been everywhere trying to find where I lived.
When the young man opened his hand, I could`nt believe my eyes, there was a tiny little mite, no more that 2 days old. I am still trying to think of how that little hoglet ended up in the middle of the road. It did`nt walk there for certain, and the young couple assured me that they had searched the area in case there was a nest, but to no avail.
That same evening at 10pm, a lady delivered 4 more week old orphans to me.
The good news is that so far this year, all of the these youngsters have survived!
The good news is that all of the hoglets that have come in so far, have survived. Here`s hoping it continues that way!