Spring warning of spike in hedgehog deaths...
Rescue centre alert over orphan babies
A HEDGEHOG rescue centre is preparing for an influx of tiny orphaned babies as the spring gardening season threatens to wipe out their mothers.
The sanctuary has just released the last 57 of the animals it cared for during winter hibernation and is warning of the dangers they now face.
Ecologist and Hedgehog Rescue Dublin founder Yvonne Mccann said: “We see a lot of injuries from strimmers. People doing their hedges end up taking the faces off them or slicing off their legs, catastrophic injuries.
“We also see a lot of poisoning from slug pellets which can kill them. This is actually wiping a lot of them out.”
DECLINED
The hedgehog population has declined by 30% in the past decade and Yvonne, 33, devotes all her time to the sanctuary in Rush, Co Dublin.
She revealed: “At this time of year we get a lot of orphans whose mother has been hit by a car, poisoned or injured by a strimmer.
“They might only be 20 or 30 grams in weight. You’ve to feed them through the night, they are really tiny.
“I’ve had them as small as 10 grams – you’re talking half the size of your thumb – and when they’re first born they don’t have any spikes.
“It’s painstaking feeding them, just a few drops with a little 1ml syringe until they can get a suck reflex. These syringes are specially designed with a plastic tip that is soft on their palate. For the first few days they might just take one tenth of a millilitre at a time.
“After two weeks their eyes open and then you can leave some formula in the lid of a jam jar and they will lap it up.”
The sanctuary gets no Government funding and relies on public donations.
A €40 sponsorship pack entitles you to name and visit your hedgehog and see them released into the wild.
Yvonne cares for up to 1,000 animals a year and rehabilitating just one can cost €400 if they need veterinary treatment.
She said: “This is something I feel passionate about. They are going extinct because of human interference. We have a lot of hand-reared babies and it’s hard to release them but getting them back to the wild is what makes the job worthwhile.”
To donate visit Hedgehog Rescue Dublin on Facebook or contact Yvonne on 086 8810492.
We see a lot of poisoning from slug pellets... this is wiping out many of them YVONNE MCCANN ON THE THREAT TO HEDGEHOGS