'Do-it-yourself' hedgehog rescuers 'killing with kindness'

Well-meaning people are killing hedgehogs "with kindness", rescue organisations have claimed.

Lucy Felgate-Baumberg, from East Yorkshire-based Lucky Hedgehog Rescue, said people were "hanging on" to sick and injured creatures when immediate professional advice should be sought.

She said: "People think, 'Oh poor little animal. We'll take it in and look after it.' But they can't."

One couple recently waited five days before contacting her, she revealed.

Ms Felgate-Baumberg said it was too late to save the most recent patient, which had not eaten for three days.

She added: "I'm seeing a lot of cases where people hang on to sick and injured hedgehogs and think they can just place them in a cardboard box somewhere in their garage and provide a bit of food and water.

"It's killing with kindness.

"The hedgehog may well be hungry and thirsty, but what is causing that? Is it dehydrated? Has it got a medical condition that needs treating?"

Ms Felgate-Baumberg said in nearly all cases hedgehogs seen out in the open during the day require immediate care "from someone who knows what they're doing" if they are to survive.

"You need a lot of knowledge to look after a sick or injured hedgehog," she said.

Kath Novis, a trustee with Holderness Hedgehog Hospital, also in East Yorkshire, said she had similar concerns.

She said: "We had a case at the weekend. A lady had found this hedgehog and had kept it for a week before ringing us. She said it was nice having it about.

"She called us after it had collapsed. It died not long after I collected it."

Ms Novis said in many cases hedgehogs could be infected by parasites "that can only be seen in their poo under a microscope".

Ms Felgate-Baumberg, currently caring for about 60 hedgehogs in the rescue facility created at the bottom of her garden, also took aim at social media.

"You get a lot of people who really know very little sharing advice in various groups," she said. "They're lethal, and kill more hedgehogs than they help."

Ms Felgate-Baumberg said hedgehogs were now "under attack from all directions" and listed the more common 'human' threats as entanglement caused by football netting, rat poison and injuries from strimmers.

"I receive a phone call about a sick or injured hedgehog every 30 minutes to an hour," she said. "I even get calls from people living abroad wanting advice."

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