Oily hedgehog has a bath

Every day is different in the sanctuary and yesterday was more unusual than ever.  We’re used to rescuing hedgehogs but not when they’re covered in oil!.  These prickly little creatures are notoriously adventurous but this one went too far from home and wandered into a car workshop where he promptly fell into the repair pit.   He was covered in oil and had to be fished out by one of the workers.   He was kindly brought in to us for a clean-up job.  It wasn’t possible to leave the oil to wear off because hedgehogs self anoint and if he’d ingested some of the contaminant that would have been it and he wouldn’t have survived.

When we tried to pick him up we were covered in oil!   We were very lucky in that this was a confident little chap who didn’t mind being picked up and showed no sign of curling up into a ball.   I wonder if he was one of last autumn’s rescues?   The majority of them survived the winter and were released.  A few of them escaped!  I’m always surprised by how ingenious and quick these creatures are – good at climbing and spotting every small gap or escape route.   This hedgehog came from the Sheepbridge area so it isn’t too far away.   Perhaps that’s why he was so friendly or was it that he knew we were trying to help him.

It was a slow and messy job but eventually we had all the oil out and he was ready to be dried on paper towels.  We ‘d had to rinse him endlessly to get the soap out too.    He didn’t mind us holding him which is very unusual.  What we’d have done if he’d curled into a ball I can ‘t imagine.

As soon as he was clean and dry we gave him a meal and then released him into a quiet area on the farm where there are lots of dry leaves and bushes and plenty of undergrowth.   Goodbye little hedgehog, we’d love you to come back to see us one day.