Rescue centre ‘inundated’ with baby hedgehogs battling heat

HOT WEATHER HAS LEFT TOWN RESCUE CENTRE AT BREAKING POINT AFTER BEING ‘INUNDATED’ WITH ABANDONED BABY HEDGEHOGS

THE heatwave has put tiny hoglets at huge risk and this has left a Nuneaton hedgehog rescue centre at breaking point.

Christine Edwards says the demand for care from her Les Monts Hedgehog rescue centre has hit a 13 year high – and it is all down to the hot weather.

In her own words she has been ‘inundated’ with people bringing 16 baby hedgehogs, known as hoglets, in to be cared for.

For the past five weeks the demand has been so intensive that she barely has time to eat, drink or sleep.

“I have been inundated,” she said.

“With the heat, the mothers are not able to feed the babies, they are abandoning them to go and look for food and water for themselves. The ground is so dry, so there are no insects and worms for them to eat.

“Because the babies are babies, they don’t know how to find food and water, they don’t know how to cope.”

It is now the fifth consecutive week in what has been the busiest period she has ever seen since starting the hedgehog rescue in 2005.

She has had litters brought in from Nuneaton and as far away as Shustoke.

The retired teacher has only been based in the town for a year, having started her hedgehog rescue home when she lived in Guernsey, hence the name ‘Les Monts.’

She moved back to Norfolk, bringing two hedgehogs with her with their own little passports.

“They were too ill to be released, I could not leave them there so I brought them with me,” she explained.

She then made the move up to the Midlands to be closer to her grown-up children and set up the centre in Nuneaton.

Such is the demand at the moment that she is desperate for help.

“I am so busy at the minute feeding the babies, I barely get chance to have a cup of tea and then by the time I get to bed, I am up again,” she added.

“I have had some really kind people drop me off food as I haven’t even had chance to go shopping and there are some veterinary nurses who are helping me, but any support would be really, really great.”

Anyone who can offer any help should either call 07535 292 931 or visit the page on Facebook - Les Monts Hedgehog Rescue - Nuneaton, Warwickshire.