Check your bonfire for hedgehogs

Piles of leaves can look like a good home
October 2011: People are being urged to remember hedgehogs during the bonfire season.

The Leatherhead-based Wildlife Aid Foundation says that if you are burning leaves or garden debris over the coming months, you should take extra care not to injure any hedgehogs or put them at risk.

Particular care should be taken if you are planning to build a big bonfire for Guy Fawkes Night.

The hedgehog population of the UK is falling rapidly and could face extinction. The Wildlife Aid Foundation believes every effort must be made to protect those hedgehogs that remain. Autumn and winter can be a particularly dangerous time of year for these creatures.

Putting hedgehogs at risk‘Burning garden rubbish or building a bonfire for November 5th puts hedgehogs at great risk,' explains Wildlife Aid Foundation director Simon Cowell. ‘People should be extremely careful, and should always watch out for hedgehogs.'

He adds: ‘Bonfire Night is a big danger as hedgehogs will always curl up and nest inside any pile of leaves or garden debris if it looks warm and inviting.

‘Ideally, you should move or turn over the entire pile of leaves, just to be extra certain. And double check any bonfire just before you light it.'

Bitter winter weather poses another risk to hedgehogs. When they hibernate their body temperature can fall to just a few degrees above freezing and their heart rate slows. They depend on their body fat to survive.

Cars are main reason behind Britain's hedgehog declineThe Wildlife Aid Foundation takes in hundreds of sick, injured and orphaned hedgehogs every year and if they are underweight the Foundation keeps them in its wildlife hospital in Leatherhead throughout the winter, giving them their only chance of survival.

The decline in the UK's hedgehog population is very serious, says Simon. ‘In 1950 there were estimated to be more than 30 million hedgehogs in Britain. Now, due mostly to the huge number of roads and cars we have in this country, the hedgehog population is down to about one million, and possibly a lot less.

‘If we don't intervene to help the hedgehog wherever and whenever we can, this most thoroughly British of all wild animals could be extinct in the next two decades.'

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/hedgehog-bonfire2011.html