Hedgehog Awareness Week

This week is #hedgehogweek and to support our prickly friends we will be posting HEDGEHOG updates, advice and information all week on our facebook pages.

In 1566, a law was passed for the ‘PRESERVATION OF GRAYNE’ (grain). It put a price on the heads of several animals that were thought to be responsible for agricultural damage. At the time the hedgehog was deemed a ‘villain’ alongside rats and mice and it was decreed that payment of three pence should be made for every hedgehog killed throughout the realm. The law was finally made obsolete 300 years later in 1863 when the hedgehog was finally found to be blameless.

Ironically today with numbers in drastic decline, the European Hedgehog is now classed as a protective species under schedule 6 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 alongside animals such as the Otter, Red Squirrel and Dormouse. The act protects the listed animals from being killed or taken by certain methods.

Every year the Pet Samaritans helps 100’s of injured hedgehogs.

We also give educational talks to schools, community groups and at our centre in Chesterfield as part of our hedgehog programme. This has only been possible because of your support. If you would like to help a hedgehog and support our work, you can pledge a donation to our wildlife appeal by following this link.