HOGWATCH Issue 40 Sept 2012 - The Lancashire Hedgehog Care

Hogwatch
from The Lancashire Hedgehog Care Trust
Patron: Nick Park CBE
Registered Charity No. 1092285
Providing specialist care, treatment and rehabilitation for sick, injured and orphaned
hedgehogs, with the aim to release when fit and healthy back into the wild.
ISSUE 40
One very wet summer—
Sept
2012
Newspapers urgently
needed please
it’s been raining cats and hogs!
This year has been exceptional for the numbers of orphaned babies we have
rescued. As I write this, I have just admitted baby number 64, and as it is
still August there will be more to follow no doubt. All made it to adulthood with
the exception of just three, who for one reason or another didn’t survive.
These unprecedented numbers were mainly due to accidental nest disturbance
(and some not so accidental), plus I think the unusually wet summer has
played a big part. I don’t know how I would have managed without the help
of volunteers Sandra D, Steve and Serrita Ogden (the Garstang branch), Sue
(the Manchester branch), Debs, Sandra G and Janet who does a great job in
coordinating the releases for me.
We are still desperate
for newspapers. If there
is anyone local that can
help and can drop them
off I would be very
grateful. I am also
looking for someone
who can supply them to If you see baby hedgehogs wandering
us on a regular basis. around in your garden on their own,
please contact your local Rescue Centre
Thank you.
New Vets 4 Pets opens
in Cleveleys
We were delighted to
have been chosen as
their charity to support
when the new Vets 4
Pets branch in
Cleveleys held their
Open Day on 4th
August. What a friendly
bunch they are at this
practice. I can highly
recommend them. Many
thanks to Martin and
Simon for inviting us
and for kindly giving us
their continuing support.
for advice on what to do ASAP. Please
do not leave them until the following
day – by then it may be too late to help
them. Do not treat baby hedgehogs as
you would if you saw a baby bird on its
own. With birds it is different, as the
parents will still be around watching
and feeding the fledglings.
Baby
hedgehogs on their own need help,
oft en following accidental n est
disturbance in a garden and the Mother
has deserted the nest.
One of the Farnworth Four fast
asleep after a good feed.
If you have ever wondered what a hedgehog eats when in the wild, the
above chart will give you an idea.
Meet Harris, the blind hedgehog.....
This hedgehog was rescued with a head injury which sadly left
him blind. He was severely stressed for several days,
constantly circling for hours and hours in his cage. His future
wasn’t looking too good to be honest, as I knew he couldn’t
continue as he was.
Then one of our volunteers Debs offered to take him. Since
then he hasn’t looked back. I don’t know what Debs’ magic
formula is, but she has worked wonders with this hedgehog.
He is no longer stressed, there is no more circling and he has
settled down at last. I couldn’t have wished for a better
outcome for Harris, so well done Debs!
Do you shop online?
Help Lancashire Hedgehog Care to raise money whenever you
shop online. It's very simple - just visit:
http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/hedgehogcare/
to register and shop with over 2000 well known retailers like
Amazon, Argos, M&S, eBay and many more. There are hardly
any retailers who aren't on there and every purchase counts for
something. Things like car or house insurance will raise £35 or
more if you take out a policy via Easyfundraising. We are
registered with them, so whenever you buy something the
retailer will make a donation to Lancashire Hedgehog Care.
The hardest part is remembering to log on to Easyfundraising
first before you make your purchase.
A big thank you to Jane for passing on this information to us.
New Members
Welcome to our new members:- Steve and Serrita Ogden,
Debra Hart, Ms A Thow, Master J. Thow, M. Bradley,
Jackie Taylor, George Watmough and Mrs J. Pickett.
The LANCASHIRE HEDGEHOG CARE Trust
Registered Charity No. 1092285
9 Alisan Road, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire. FY6 7QF
Hedgehog CareLINE:
CareLINE (01253) 899404 (10am—8pm)
Website: www.hedgehogcare.co.uk
Email: info@hedgehogcare.co.uk
CARE Manager Janis Dean
Trustees Sandra Duckworth, Bill Hamer, Terry Bates,
Janet Bowman.
The contents of this newsletter including photographs, all text and
poems remain the property of Lancashire Hedgehog Care and must
not be copied or reproduced in any form without permission.
Many thanks to Juha Mäki-Ketelä from Finland for sharing
with us this photo of hedgehogs that visit her garden every
evening. I have never seen so many hogs feeding at the same
time, and Juha says once she had 17!! They all look so
healthy so well done Juha for taking such good care of them.
Walter’s tale
I have said this many times in the past—hedgehogs seem to
know where to go when they need help. Like a sick one waiting
patiently beside a relative’s gravestone when I visit, or the
injured one that crossed the road—but in front of my car. Then
there was Walter.
This hedgehog was found wandering around in a garden during
the daytime back in January this year. Walter was quite an old
chap, weary and weather beaten from his time in the wild and
half starved. Amongst other things he also had a severe skin
condition which he needed treatment for, as his spines were
falling out. He had basically collapsed with no reserves left when
I got him, but following weeks of careful nursing and many
treatments for his long list of ailments he made a full recovery,
and he was released back into the wild in a garden at Stanah at
the end of March. I marked him with a touch of yellow emulsion
paint at the back of his neck for identification. Spring was in the
air and Walter would soon be chasing the ladies no doubt. My job
with him was complete...... or so I thought.
Sat at my computer one late evening in June, I happened to click
on Facebook. There I noticed a photograph posted by Karen in
Thornton of a new hedgehog that had recently been coming into
her garden for food in the evening. As I looked at the photo, I
initially just thought that the hog didn’t look very well - and then
I spotted yellow on the back of it’s neck. I hoped it wasn’t Walter,
but I had a feeling it was. I sent an urgent message to Karen
asking her to keep a look out for this hedgehog, and if seen again
to pick him up as he needed rescuing. Come midnight and Karen
had found him. She rushed him round to me and sure enough it
was Walter. He was only half his release weight.
Strange that Walter should find his way to Karen’s garden in
Thornton from the release garden in Stanah. Then for Karen to
photograph him and post it on Facebook, and then for me to see
it and recognise him. There are hundreds of houses between the
Stanah release garden and Karen’s garden, and he could have
gone in any. Walter won’t be released back into the wild now, as
I am sure he would not cope especially through the winter. Now
fit and healthy again he has been transferred to a lovely enclosed
garden, where Laura a foster carer is taking care of him over the
coming months. He now deserves a bit of TLC in his old age.
MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS
If your copy of “Hogwatch” has a cross below, it means that
your membership subscription is due for renewal before the
next issue. Your support is vital, enabling us to continue to
provide care and treatment for the many hedgehogs that will
need our help in the future. Thank you.