Baby hedgehog given help by Stamford resident Heather Cutler
When Heather Cutler found a tiny hedgehog in her garden, she faced a prickly problem.
While wanting to leave the hoglet in its own environment, she couldn’t help but wonder why it wasn’t hibernating.
Several days later she spotted the baby again, and it was still behaving oddly.
“It was minus two outside and when I went near it, it didn’t roll into a ball,” said Heather, a catering assistant at Stamford Hospital. “It also made no attempt to run or hide when I went back inside.”
On closer inspection, Heather found the hoglet was cold and, using gloves, picked it up and brought it indoors.
“I called a few numbers for hedgehog rescue places, but wasn’t able to get through,” she explained.
As a result, Heather has been researching hedgehogs extensively using the internet, and is making sure it is fed on the correct type of catfood - fish flavours give hedgehogs wind - and is keeping track of its weight so it makes the right gains without ballooning.
“I’m not naming it,” she said. They are wild animals and protected. As soon as it is warmer I will re-acclimatise it then release it.”
Heather, 49, who lives in Drift Avenue, Stamford is keen for people to know more about hedgehogs, which she has discovered are not flea-ridden, and benefit from holes and ramp access between gardens, so they have larger feeding grounds.
For tips, the RSPCA has a webpage about hedgehogs which includes a downloadable factsheet about caring for hoglets that are not fat enough to hibernate.
