Cartoon Hedgehog welcome banner Cartoon Hedgehog
 

Epping Forest Hedgehog Rescue

www.thehedgehog.co.uk

 
 

" My experiences over the years have shown me that 95% of all wildlife casualties are injured as a result of their encounters with man and his artificial environment. We owe it to these victims to try to make amends for some of the hazards we have put in their way - Nature has little part in this conflict.

Every animal I see wants to live. It does not think of its pain as misery. Given the right care and treatment, that pain or suffering can be relieved and the animal thrives, raring to go. It won't thank you, it won't even remember your care, but it will be fit and free again."

( Les Stocker, Founder of St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital Trust)

  

This site will try to educate and give advice on how to attract hedgehogs to your garden, how to keep them healthy, what to feed them on and what to do and who to contact if you find an ill, injured or orphaned hedgehog.

It is here to advise you how to help "The Hedgehog in YOUR Garden"

divider image

Attention ALL Hedgehog Lovers

Can you make a Donation?

My wife and I do what we can to help them from our small one bedroom flat. We have been paying for everything from our very limited income and have run out of money. We get no help from anybody or anywhere and pay for everything ourselves

Please don't forget we are only volunteers who do this because we care for them.
We can't do this alone
We need your help.

You can donate safely and securely by using  Paypal. Just click on the button below. Any amount no matter how small is gratefully accepted and desperately needed

  • We are spending between £150 and £200  each month just on petrol picking up hedgehogs and taking them to and from vets and the wildlife hospital for emergency treatment.

  • Most people won't even give as 20 pence towards the costs of picking up a hedgehog.

  • We have now completely run out of money 

  • We have been forced to take our phone number off the website. 

  • We know that many hedgehogs will suffer because of this but we just cannot cope any longer

It only takes £1 or £2 from you to help save a suffering or dying hedgehog

 You can read more  HERE

If you would like to to donate by mail or other means please see our contact page for details of how to help us or get in touch with us

We urgently need Towels, bedding, food, cardboard boxes etc.  Please try and help us.

Today: 2nd July 2008 we have 29 hedgehogs in our care and under treatment out of which 17 are orphaned babies being hand reared

 In June 2008 we picked up & treated 75 hedgehogs, out of which 37 were so severely injured & suffering so badly that they were taken directly to the vet or wildlife hospital and euthanised or died while being treated.

The really busy period has just started and we are already completely full up with orphans being hand reared.

 We also spend a lot of money on:

  • Hedgehog Food ( tinned meat & biscuits)

  • Medicines

  • Esbilac (special milk for babies & very ill hedgehogs)

  • Electric bills ( heat pads, heating the pens and the washing machine is always on with all the bedding)

  • Running this website is also expensive

We pay for everything ourselves. We need help urgently.

 

bullet

If you find a sick, injured or baby hedgehog: Read Here  for what to do and HERE for basic first aid treatment   
bullet The numbers of hedgehogs living in and visiting our gardens are falling dramatically.
bullet We all need to do something urgently about this otherwise very soon they will be completely extinct

bullet

What can YOU do to help

bullet

Can you offer a home to a hedgehog
bullet

Never Spray hedgehogs with Frontline or other flea sprays Read why here
bullet

Slugs and Snails kill hedgehogs Read more about this here

June 2008:

6th June: The first orphan arrived yesterday and it definitely won't be the last. Many Mums die because of no food and water and the new born babies also die.

Please help them and put out food & water

If you see any hedgehogs out in daylight, they need our URGENT help so pick it up and ring for help URGENTLY

Baby hedgehogs that are hungry or in distress make a noise that sounds like a smoke alarm bleeping. If you hear that noise look carefully & find the babies and call for help

 
bullet About rearing baby hedgehogs see here

proud hedgehog parents image

This site gives advice and information about the European Hedgehog ( Erinaceus Europaeus) which is a wild animal and not a pet.

While we don't agree with keeping any wild animal as a pet, we do accept that there are already quite a few African pygmy Hedgehogs already in the UK and some of the information here might not be relevant to them

For advice on keeping pet African Pygmy Hedgehogs see: http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/

 

Hedgehog Advice forum banner

  • If you like hedgehogs
  • Want to find out more about them and see lots of photos or videos
  • Just want to chat to other people who are interested in hedgehogs and other wildlife
  • Pop in to  our help and advice forum where you can ask any questions, discuss anything about hedgehogs or other wildlife and get help and advice  http://www.hedgehoghelp.co.uk

 

People always ask: " How can I tell how old or big a hedgehog is? or does it need help? "

tiny hedgehog and an egg

 

 

 


Click on the small image for a full size picture

 

This one is 90 grams and about 4 weeks old and slightly bigger than a medium egg

Anything this size seen out on its own needs to be picked up straight away and kept warm. Contact an experienced carer, rescue centre or Vet IMMEDIATELY otherwise it will not survive

see a lot more pictures and find out more about him http://www.hedgehoghelp.co.uk/index.php?topic=881.0

He looks plump because of the spines, but he is very thin and underweight

tiny hedgehog and an egg

Click on the small image for a full size picture

 
A very thin weak hedgehog with only 3 legs

Click for full size images and more details

 Another frequently asked question is " How do I know if a hedgehog is thin and needing help or plump and healthy? "

The hedgehog on the left is dangerously thin and looks like a sausage, with flat spines, looks lifeless and needs urgent treatment

The one on the right is a healthy, well-fed hedgehog in our enclosed garden having a treat of special Esbilac milk we use to rear babies or help to build up recuperating ones. See how she is plump and round

 		 A healthy well fed hedgehog

Click for full size image

Hedgehogs are injured and Killed by Strimmers and Lawnmowers

Please be very careful when using a strimmer and mower in your garden and check the long grass & undergrowth first with your hand or foot to make sure NOTHING is curled up there. Hedgehogs DO NOT run away when they hear the noise, but curl up tightly which is no protection from these tools.hedgehog reading a book

  Please read more here  and sign our petitions to help stop this totally unnecessary slaughter of innocent lives

 

divider image

 

  • We built this website because we were "adopted" by several hedgehogs and want to share our experiences, make you more interested in hedgehogs and other wildlife. and help YOU look after the hedgehog in YOUR garden
  • Lots of the information came  from other Hedgehog help sites and the various books that have been written about hedgehogs. We have adapted the information in the light of our own experiences.
     

If we cannot physically help you, we will try to put you in touch with a local carer closer to you. Many of the links on the right or on the links page have good lists of Hedgehog carers and rescuers in most parts of the UK.

We are in the process of building a database of all Hedgehog Centres and Carers

We would also suggest you also look at the BHPS or Spikes Sites for carers lists.

 hedgehog cartoon

Search This site or the web with Google
World Society for the Protection of Animals ( Animals matter banner)
  • When you cannot contact a hedgehog rescue centre or carer immediately then Any sick or injured hedgehog should be taken to a local vet who should give basic emergency treatment free of charge.
  • If you cannot get to a vet then  contact the RSPCA on their 24 hour emergency number 0300 1234 999.

Can you give a home to a Disabled hedgehog

  • Please only contact us to offer a place if you live very close to us. That means within the Epping Forest District area ( Loughton, Epping, Ongar), West Essex ( Brentwood, Harlow and Sawbridgeworth), East Hertfordshire (Bishops Stortford), Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Havering or other  areas very close to us.
  • If you live elsewhere please contact your local centre and offer them help
  • Before offering help you need a fully enclosed garden. By fully enclosed we mean either high solid brick walls all around or high solid wooden fences with either concrete or wooden gravel boards sunken into the ground deeply enough to stop a hedgehog digging its way out.
     

  • Hercules a blind hedgehog who needs a homeAlma was a hedgehog with a missing back leg who needed a safe home. Read about her here

  •  Hercules was one lucky hedgehog who has now found a very good home. Read about him  here

  • We  URGENTLY need gardens to release healthy hedgehogs and the babies we have reared. Read here to find out what you need to do to help

  • We always need safe gardens and caring people to adopt and care for other disabled hedgehogs

 

Help us to help them
cctv camera Support Tim's Ebay Shop for:-
  • CCTV cameras to watch your hedgehogs
  • Lots of other very useful things
  • Melatonin and other natural remedies for people and animals

See some of the hedgehog videos Tim & others have made using these cameras:

Captive or Pet Hedgehogs

We are noticing an increasing trend for people wanting to keep captive or pet hedgehogs. This is not something we recommend or approve of in normal circumstances.

  • Please read here for full details
Animals Matter To Me
You can help us

You can help us achieve recognition and protection of animals around the world by joining a global voice of 10 million in support of our campaign.

Animals and our treatment of them matters to everyone, including you. Make animals matter to government. Tell your government that animals matter to you.
Sign the petition

www.animalsmatter.org 		elephants

World society for protection of Animals banner

peta banner

Please visit the other hedgehog sites below

All links open in a new window. Close that window to return to this site
Take part in National Mammal Survey
Help to find out whether hedgehogs and other wildlife are decreasing in numbers
Hedgehog Helpline
Hedgehog
Research Pages
British Hedgehog
Preservation Society
St Tiggywinkles
Wildlife Hospital
South Essex Wildlife Hospital
01375 893893
Covers Essex, North Kent & East London areas
C. R. A. S. H. Hedgehog Hospital
Prickly Ball Farm Hedgehog Hospital
Spike's Site
(Makers of Spike's
Hedgehog Food)
Jan Brett.com a good resource for colouring pictures of hedgehogs.
Janbrett.com is good source of colouring pictures of hedgehogs
and has other good educational aids.

Internet Content Rating Association
An interesting Childrens hedgehog site
If you are looking for wildlife food or hedgehog houses or nest boxes or indeed anything to help your garden wildlife take a look at :
wildlife shop
Wildlife shop
graphic garden logo

Images Information: You are welcome to use any of the photographs on here for any purpose to help hedgehogs. Please download them and use on your own site and not hotlink to here.  A link back to this site so your viewers can learn more about hedgehogs would be much appreciated. Almost all of the cartoon hedgehogs are copyright and if you wish to use them then you need to buy a licence from the copyright holder http://www.graphicgarden.com

graphic garden banner