Mr Piggy-Winkle! The hedgehog as big as a melon
SUGGESTING someone should shed a pound or two can be a prickly matter.
But this tubby hedgehog has had to go on a strict diet and exercise regime after ballooning to three times the usual size for the species.
Affectionately nicknamed Jabba – after the fat Star Wars villain Jabba the Hutt – he tips the scales at almost 4lb and at more than 21 inches around the middle has become so flabby he can no longer curl into a ball to protect himself from predators. Normally he should weigh between 1lb and 1lb 8oz.
The spiky creature piled on weight during winter at a wildlife sanctuary where he was spoiled with dried mealworms and puppy food by a rescue volunteer.
Staff at the Oak and Furrows Wildlife Rescue Centre in Wiltshire are now forcing him to exercise.
Jabba – who at his largest was the size of a honeydew melon – is in an extra-large hutch with his bed in one corner and his food in another so he has to move and burn off energy to eat.
Sanctuary volunteers hope his current weight of 3lb 13oz will now drop to 1lb 7oz by late March so they can release him back into the wild. Carer Darren Squires said: ‘This hedgehog was looked after by an independent animal rescue volunteer who fed him puppy food and dried mealworms, which are like crisps to hedgehogs.
‘He needs to get on the treadmill.’