200 patient hedgehogs in 2023 at Hailsham's Help4hedgehogs

Help4hedgehogs do their best to rehabilitate every wild hedgehog who comes into their care and give them a second chance at living their best life in the wild.These nocturnal mammals were placed on the red list of vulnerable species in the UK in 2020, and the population is believed to have declined by around a third since the year 2000.

Habitat loss, use of chemicals in gardens and busy roads have all contributed to a pretty dire situation for hedgehogs, but not at Help4hedgehogs. For every hedgehog returned to the wild, they believe they are evening up the score and helping each little character to thrive.

You are just as likely to find a hedgehog in your back garden as you are in a hedgerow, but if you find one out in the daytime (hedgehogs do not sunbathe) and they’re a bit wobbly, sick or dehydrated, then help4hedgehogs will take your call if you are concerned.

When people get in touch, they are always asked to describe the size of the hedgehog and fruit is quite a good comparison. A fully grown adult should be the size of a melon, if someone says it’s the size of an apricot they go into emergency mode - ultimately that just means it’s too young to be out by itself. Then at this time of year anything Mango size or smaller is a concern, especially with the recent wet weather, many hedgehogs have been washed out of their nests.

Many of the hedgehogs at Help4hedgehogs require rehabilitation because of human interaction.It can range from Hoglets found when someones dug into their compost heap, to someone removing or renovating their garden shed and finding hedgehogs under the floorboards. Others maybe have become entangled in garden netting; there can be some nasty entanglement injuries. They’ve gone hungry and become dehydrated; what is usually a healthy level of internal parasites can then become a heavy burden.

Ironically, hedgehogs are not the easiest creatures to rehabilitate. Help4hedgehogs is very fortunate to have some expert help from Horsebridge Veterinary Practice. Hedgehogs can suffer from stress in captivity, therefore at Help4hedgehogs there are different areas for those undergoing different types of treatments. There’s an ICU, intensive care unit, a room for the heated incubators which house any critically ill hedgehogs or post-op patients. Then there’s the ward itself, which is unusually busy this year plus the rehabilitation unit outside where the hedgehogs go for a short stay before being released. All of which have black out blinds in a room to create a dark and quiet space for the patients to recover.

The most rewarding moments in Hedgehog rehabilitation are release days, when at last the Hedgehog has successfully been brought back to health and done everything possible to prepare them for life back in the wild. Most Hedgehogs are returned to where they have been found, but sometimes it is not safe to do so. Help4hedgehogs have a few wonderful release sites in the area and if it is thought to be hard for a hedgehog to survive due to its condition, blind or a tripod for example, it can live free in the Sanctuary on site. All hedgehogs are monitored via cctv, in the sanctuary and if there are no issues they can look forward to release six months on. That’s at the heart of what Help4hedgehogs do, they want these animals to thrive in the exact same way as their wild counterparts, that have never been in rehabilitation.

That can mean some very long hours, as hoglets need feeding as often as every two hours, in the summer months. Unfortunately hedgehogs often need help because of people, be that through strimming in the garden or disturbing the nest site.

So many people actually do care though, and what Help4hedgehogs is doing is re-balancing things by giving hedgehogs another chance. When people have found a hedgehog they become invested in it’s care and they really do help. Sometimes, it’s very overwhelming and very heartening to see the support throughout the local community be it by bringing in hedgehogs and becoming more hedgehog aware or by making donations or buying the hedgehogs items on the help4hedghog amazon wish list.