Friday, October 30 2009, 15:28 GMTBy Mayer Nissim, Entertainment Reporter
A hedgehog has been treated in an animal hospital after getting drunk on fermenting apples in an orchard.
The creature was discovered lying on its back and squealing last Wednesday and was helped by local wildlife rescue expert Ann McCormack at The Prickly Ball Hedgehog Hospital in South Devon, the North Devon Journal reports.
McCormack said: "They had placed it in a guinea pig cage and it kept going round in circles. The hedgehog kept falling over and was on its back with its legs up in the air for most of the time.
"It was legless. This is definitely the first drunk hedgehog I have found. The next morning I came in and turned the light on and she squealed really loudly. She obviously still had a big headache."
The hedgehog, nicknamed Tipsy, will be fed up to a healthy weight of 600g before being released back into the wild in the spring.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/odd/news/a184487/drunk-hedgehog-rescued-in-devon.html
Photo by G L Wilson
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I love that! We've had a hedgehog in the garden this autumn, but not enough apples to get drunk on... Lucky to be rescued before it got squashed somewhere!
ReplyDeleteSorry, but I take exception to that comment. You make it sound as if hedgehogs are stupid creatures that are so dumb that they are always getting run over.
ReplyDeleteIt's a common misperception than hedgehogs are always getting squashed on the roads. There is no more hedgehog roadkill than for any of out other animals here in the UK.
The reason people have this perception is because the spiny bodies of those unfortuante enough to be hit by cars are scavenger-proof and are therefore around for a lot longer.