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Orchard Vet's Blog
Looking Sharp!
04/05/2023
Hedgehog Awareness Week is organised by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and takes place every year. Its aim is to highlight the problems hedgehogs face and how you can help them.
Sadly, hedgehog population numbers are in decline with it being estimated that urban hedgehog population numbers have fallen by up to 30% and rural populations by up to 50%.
There are a number of things you can do at home in your own garden to create a safe and enriching environment:
- Cover drains and deep holes
- Make sure there’s access to an easy route out of ponds and pools
- Check your garden carefully before strimming
- Build a hedgehog home
- Pick up litter to avoid entrapment!
- Square gaps in the bottom of fences or walls will allow hedgehogs to move between gardens easily
- Avoid using pesticides and poisons
- Hedgehogs can hibernate
- They have over 5000 spikes
- They can swim and climb trees
- They don’t use their eyes to hunt instead relying on their hearing and smell
- There are over 15 species of hedgehog in the world!
For more hedgehog-related information, visit the British Hedgehog Preservation Society