PRICKLY VISITORS                                                                 18-10-14

 

While some people may expect the odd squirrel in their back gardens, others may find themselves with a more prickly mammal; the hedgehog.

It was a morning like any other when Mr. Alberto Lozano found a small, round creature lying next to his sleeping Australian Shepherd. ‘’I was quite curious as to what it was, especially because my dog was not taking any notice of it. The thing was small and round with a pointed nose. At first, it looked only like a bristled sponge.

I reached out with the tip of my foot not too tempted to touch it with anything else, and then it moved. I realised the kind of animal it was and immediately took my dogs inside. The hedgehog however, had other plans, it walked around slowly making his way towards the shed and just disappeared’’, he recalled.

There have been many encounters like this with hedgehogs wobbling into gardens across the UK. It is estimated that around 10 different hedgehogs will find themselves in your garden overnight according the RSPCA’s advice and welfare page. Unfortunately many people do not know what to do when one of these spiny friends Wander into their home.

So why would we want them in our Gardens in the first place? People often make the mistake of regarding them as no more than spiky rats full of fleas, however, this is not quite true.

According to Hugh Warwick, an expert and author of a prickly affair, these animals can be quite useful visitors. This is because like the shrew or the vole, the hedgehog is an insectavore and an adult hedgehog can devour up to 200 grams of insects per night, therefore ‘your’ hedgehog will munch through your slug-infested garden in just three months. This leads to the conclusion that they are the perfect gardeners. In order to encourage these small creatures into our gardens Warwick says ‘’Hedgehogs need three things; food, water and shelter. All of those things can be achieved with a good compost heap.’’ Lamentably, people think that there is nothing wrong with leaving them some milk or crumbs of bread, and they are completely unaware that this can harm their digestive system. Maybe if people were more aware of what these small animals needed there wouldn’t be a rapid decrease in the species.

The main reason for the decline in recent years is habitat loss. Organisations such as ‘The People’s Trust for Endangered Species’ (PTES) have emerged to encourage these animals into our gardens instead of  frightening them away. The PTES is a charity which has been running counts of hedgehogs for the last decade.

There should be more campaigns set up to provide these animals with ideal habitats, they would certainly be welcome, and possibly help increase the number of hedgehogs across the UK. If we do not help in some way or the other to conserve their habitats or welcome them into our homes, then extinction in the future may be very likely. So, perhaps these  animals are not so such a bother after all, next time you might not be so tempted to scare one off if it pops into your garden tonight.

By: Mina Lozano

Gumley House convent School