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Rescue centre sets up garden for disabled hedgehogs

LUKE DEAL/BBC A hedgehog is walking about on a bed of bark and sticks in an outside settingLUKE DEAL/BBC
Hedgehogs have great fun "rolling about in the mud"

A rescue centre has set up a new garden area specifically designed to help disabled hedgehogs who can't be released back into the wild.

Suffolk Prickles Hedgehog Rescue in Stonham, which cares for sick and injured hedgehogs and trains volunteers, has set up a new accessible zone.

Paula Baker, chair of trustees, said the hedgehogs with disabilities had "great fun in there and they like rolling around in the mud".

This week, the first ever national hedgehog conservation strategy was launched to try to halt decline after research showed numbers had fallen by 75% since 2000.

LUKE DEAL/BBC A hedgehog is being handled by someone wearing black gloves and a red coatLUKE DEAL/BBC
Suffolk Prickles Hedgehog Rescue was founded in October 2010 and operates an emergency admittance and treatment centre and an intensive veterinary care unit

Ms Baker said: "We've got two parts to the new site. One side is a wilderness area for hedgehogs and then on the other side we're developing our Chelsea Hedgehog Garden where we keep our disabled hedgehogs.

"They have great fun in there and they like rolling around in the mud. We have three hedgehogs in there which are completely blind, but they are very happy and we monitor them all the time.

"We also have a Hoggie Lodge for over-wintering hedgehogs. It's a very busy time for us right now because it's been a good autumn for hedgehogs and we've got some very young families with us."

The People's Trust for Endangered Species and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society have published a guide to protect the animals and warned that threats need to be addressed urgently.

Factors included decreases in invertebrate prey to eat, vehicle collisions and exposure to toxins found in plastics.

Ms Baker said: "I'm really excited about the new strategy and I think its brilliant that we are all trying to club together to help hedgehogs and it's really good that some major organisations are getting behind that."

"The easiest thing for people to do is to leave food and water out for hedgehogs and they can put a hole in their fence so the animals can go between gardens."

Fay Vass, British Hedgehog Preservation Society chief executive, hoped the new strategy would encourage industries such as transport, farming and construction to "scale up conservation work with hedgehogs in mind".

"By 2034, I hope the future for our hedgehogs is significantly brighter," she added.

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