WATERHOGGED
Animal lover takes in 30 hedgehogs after floods
A CHARITY worker has been left with a houseful of hedgehogs after floods hit.
Nadia Al-Dujaili is sheltering 30 of the spiky creatures in her home after the Forth Hedgehog Hospital she runs from her back garden in Rosyth, Fife, was flooded.
The 33-year-old waded through waist-deep water to rescue the animals from their shed. They are now bunking up in her living room and kitchen and have woken up hungry from hibernation.
Ex-Scottish SPCA worker Nadia is now appealing for help to replenish the charity’s food stocks after they were destroyed.
She opened the hospital in 2014 and rescues injured and sick hogs across Fife. Nadia said: “The shed which is used for the hospital is now under about two-and-a-half feet of water. The rescue garden was knee-deep, sometimes up to my waist, when I was trying to get all the hogs out. “They’ve all been hibernating in their outdoor pens and hutches until the spring and we can release them back into the wild.
“We had to bring them into temporary accommodation in the house and they’re having to bunk up together in pairs or threes, which isn’t ideal.
“The equipment is all in the kitchen as well so it’s a little bit chaotic right now.
“Because we’ve had to bring them into the house, they’ve all woken up from hibernation because of the warmth. They’re all very much active now and needing food. A lot of the dry cat biscuits that they eat were destroyed by the flood water on the shelves in the shed.
“I rescued as much as I could but we desperately need more. The local community have been amazing and have offered to bring stuff to the rescue for us.”
To help, visit www.facebook. com/forthhedgehoghospital