Kind Ailie’s prickly feat

ANIMAL lover Ailie Hill’s life changed after she found a hedgehog stuck in a cattle grid and nursed it back to health.

Since then she has saved more than 500 of them.

Ailie, 43, was so captivated by the creature it inspired her to study how to treat them with first aid. She learnt about the care and rehab of hedgehogs – then she set up a hospital.

Now she runs Pricklebums Hedgehog Rescue from her home in Ludlow, Shropshire.

Thrillingly, it won the Unexpected category in Cuprinol and Channel 4’s Shed of the Year.

Her work is entirely self-funded. She has five volunteers and is supported by her local vet.

Hedgehogs have been voted the nation’s favourite mammal, and former teaching assistant Ailie wants to raise awareness of the dangers they face.

She said: “The most common injuries are from car accidents, garden strimmers and being bitten by dogs.

“The wounds can become infected OUR vet Brian Faulkner, from Petplan, has 16 years of experience and is a freelance working all over the country. Send your questions to Brian at: Petplan, Great West House, Great West Road, Brentford, Middlesex, TW8 9DX or via Petplan’s Facebook page facebook.com/ PetplanUK. and this can be agonising. They also suffer bacterial and parasite infections from eating slugs and snails. And we see terrible injuries from bonfires.”

The very poorly hogs have intensive care treatment in Ailie’s kitchen, which is equipped with incubators and microscopes to assess infections.

Once they are well enough they move to an indoor rabbit hutch.

Then they recover in stackable dog carriers fitted with heat pads. They acclimatise in outdoor pens before being released back into the wild.

Ailie’s long-term goal is a purpose built hospital. She said: “We raise money but we struggle and need support. We love hedgehogs but the population is dropping.”

To help hedgehogs, Ailie says we should encourage them into our gardens and provide feeding stations.

She urges gardeners not to put down slug pellets and to check before using forks or strimmers and watch dogs in the garden at night.

SEE facebook.com/ pricklebumshedgehogrescue. MY dog seems to strain and struggle to defecate.

Can dogs get constipation? What steps should I be taking to make this better?

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