Boy gets PM's support on wildlife sign plea

Brody's Animal Buddies A boy with braided hair and large glasses smiles as he holds up a letter from Downing Street. Brody's Animal Buddies
Brody wrote to both the prime minister and the King in a bid to increase the number of wildlife road signs

An 11-year-old boy has taken his appeal to help wildlife cross roads safely to the very top - gaining a response from the prime minister.

Brody, who lives in Healing in North East Lincolnshire, started campaigning for better signage after two deer were killed on a road earlier this year.

He wrote to Sir Keir Starmer asking for more wildlife warning signs on England's roads, and has also appealed to the King for help.

Discussing the response from 10 Downing Street, Brody said: "The letter pretty much said that he loves my ideas and that he's going to pass it on to a bigger department that can do something about it."

The official response thanked Brody for his "well written letter" and for sharing his thoughts on "this important matter".

They said they would be passing on his comments to the department in charge of road signs.

Brody's Animal Buddies A boy with a brown fringe and large glasses holds up a bird feeder shaped like a red toadstool. Brody's Animal Buddies
As well as putting up wildlife signs, Brody has also been fundraising for bird and hedgehog boxes

A hedgehog road sign was introduced in 2023, but Brody's request was for other species to be represented.

Brody and his mum Nikki have already put 20 of their own wildlife warning signs up around their local area, asking people to look out for animals.

On motorists, he said: "They need to definitely know that animals do cross the road there, so there needs to be like multi-animal signs, because you can see the big animals like deer, but on the road, people wouldn't look for a hedgehog."

Brody's Animal Buddies A boy with a brown fringe and large glasses smiles brightly as he hold a carboard box containing a hedgehog.Brody's Animal Buddies
Brody has also been supporting the Charlie's Hedgehog Care hedgehog rescue

Nikki said she "could not be prouder" of her son, who she said had "taken charge of the whole project".

She added: "When he first said he was going to write to the King and the prime minister, we didn't expect a response. We expected he might be shooed off. But we're so proud of how much awareness he's raised and how everyone has rallied round and wanted to help."

Nikki said Brody had several ambitions for the future, including travelling to Kenya to work on large scale wildlife projects, and would one day love to own his own farm where he can rehabilitate animals.

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