A badly injured hedgehog

This little chap was brought in today by the kind people who found him with a terrible injury.  One of his legs has been cut clean off.   The vet has had a look at him and there is nothing to be done apart from feeding him up and giving him lots of reassurance and t.l.c.

We don’t know how it happened.   Although he is obviously in shock he has eaten some mealworms and had a little drink of warm goat’s milk.   He looks to be just about full grown so would normally be ready to hibernate.   We don’t want him to do this yet as he needs to heal up and increase his weight – he is a bit thin, possibly because he couldn’t get food for himself so easily after he was injured.

He’s a lovely little chap and has let me stroke him, although he curls into a ball at a quick movement or sudden noise.   You might not think it but hedgehogs have expressive faces.   They can be sad, happy, hungry, interested or determined to do something else.  It’s difficult to photograph them though!

Isn’t it a hard life for so many of the little creatures who share this planet, they are so much at the mercy of the dominant species-  humans.  This poor little chap needs all our prayers please.