So angry...another death !

[Tetters]

The European hedgehog is endangered. Across the country there are caring people who work hard to run rescues for these wonderful creatures - as we do in my corner. Although I can provide a 4 acre haven for them here on my patch, I am surrounded by farmers and other gardeners who think it is a good idea to spread slug bait around like confetti.
I found one of last year`s little ones wandering around in the middle of the day - successfully coming through hibernation, and making a bid for life, scooped her up in a towel to check her out - she should have been sleeping.
She died, foaming from the mouth - poisoned...... at a loss

 

[alp]

@Tetters What can I do to encourage our hoggies please?

 

[Tetters]

There are many sites to google on line for fine details, which would save me writing a whole book on here. The basic idea is to make your garden hog friendly, feed them the RIGHT food when needed, leave fresh water for them daily, give them shelter ........look for dangerous objects like plastic netting and twine and rubbish - and dispose of these - DON'T use slug pellets........and spread the word. Talk to people in surrounding homes, and get them interested if possible - if more communities would just work together ......

As for the farming community - don`t know

 

[alp]

I have seen @Grey Parrot 's method and will leave water out every night as now I have various creme brulee dishes..

 

[zigs]

I had to burn a load of garden waste for a client yesterday, I insisted that I move it to another site before setting fire to make sure there were no hedgepigs under it.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Lots of animals in the world are suffering because of HUMAN STUPIDITY.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

It is beyond frustrating when you try to help nature and your neighbors do the opposite. This is the world we live in. For every person that cares, it seems 30 people don't. It's often attributed to greed. Other times, it's just plain carelessness. In other cases, people just don't know how to live with nature. They have one small issue and they solve it with killing, and it seems like there is just about nothing you can say or do to change their way of thinking.

I frequently find myself getting angry at a lack of care for animals and habitat. I usually then go on Twitter, where I follow a lot of people that do care, to remind myself that all people aren't bad and maybe we do have a chance to change things. Sometimes, though, it seems hopeless.

The best we can do right now is help the wildlife that needs it and try to spread the word. That's one of the reasons I'm on this forum. Many of you know my garden is designed to be a small habitat restoration. I hope that people who understand what I'm doing might be interested in doing similar things in their own yards and gardens. I hope it rubs off on them.

 

[Mark56]

As you know Tetley we share a common passion here & this is exactly why yourself & most others on this site are my type of people

Folks after advice in UK/Europe for hedgehogs - http://hedgehog-rescue.org.uk

Two weeks on Sunday whilst out walking Barney, I found a tiny male - he weighed 320g and was 'sunbathing' (a big no no) so I scooped him up, took him into my garage, fed with cat biscuits & watered before then driving over an hour to the only rescue open, Tiggywinkles. They suspected, as I did, that he was an autumn juvenile that had somehow clawed his way through winter on death's edge. I'll be calling shortly to check up on him but they were so very grateful.

 

[Tetters]

With the good weather last year @Mark56 the hogs had three lots of babies rather than the usual two, and we think this is why there were so many underweight juveniles last autumn.
I have managed to rope in a few of the other people in our village who are watching out for our hogs. This afternoon I had word of a second death from poisoning - it was a very large male.... and I am feeling distraught. Someone is obviously using poison, and I have no idea what to try and do about it. Any advice would be helpful. It seems like the farmers have been spraying a LOT recently - but the hogs can travel a long way each night - about 4 miles so I understand ..... feeling useless - also worrying for the dogs, and am sticking to walking in the woods rather than the fields right now.

 

[alp]

@Tetters You could probably email your local newspapers once every month with photos of the hoggies to remind people of the plights of hedgehogs.. I'm going to find a pipe big enough to put the food in.. That's what people suggested in Nature Watch ..

 

[Tetters]

The hedgehogs are quite able to find sufficient natural food during the summer months, and I cannot see the point of messing around with ''big pipes''
The problems that they have is the extensive use of slug bait as well as the rubbish hazards that people leave all over the place. They eat slugs, and slugs eat slug bait. Poisoned slugs kill hogs !

 

[alp]

LOL! OK, no pipes .. True, summer months, it's better that they fend for themselves.. OK, won't use slug pellets. Might use coffee grinds instead.. See, I've learned something new today.. Thank you, Tetters!

 

[Verdun]

Morning chatterboxes
Another beautiful day to come. Wonderful spell of weather
Important words about hedgehogs Tetters.......we need to look after these lhese little guys

 

[alp]

Good morning, Verdun. Hope you have enjoyed your walk.. Very sunny here with a chill in the air..

 

[Logan]

I've never used slug pellets, because of the wild life. Around here the other things is they get run over by cars. The same for frogs. They come out of hibernation and get run over by cars.