West Midlands Hedgehog Rescue

Conker was another of our star hedgehogs. He came to us in the late summer of 2006. We received a phone call saying that two young men had found a baby hedgehog when they were coming back from a Chinese take-away. He was wandering along the gutter in a built up area late at night. The lads were concerned about him so they had picked him up and taken him home, where they fed him with the only meat they had available – a barbequed spare rib! The next morning, he was still alive and they gave him a piece of bacon from their breakfast.

When they contacted us and explained what had happened, we thought they were playing a trick on us. Nevertheless, Joan arranged to meet them locally. She found a small hedgehog that refused to uncurl. He was a very small, tightly curled ball of spikes. He reminded us of a horse-chestnut and so we called him Conker.

It was a long time before we saw his face. Whenever we handled him, he stayed curled up. But he was feeding well and putting on weight. He was a really determined hedgehog. Eventually he got used to Joan and came out of his ball.