The morning message came in while I was drinking a coffee. “We have a hedgehog in distress.”
As you can see our little spikey friend was caught in a fence and had wedged himself in, unable to get out. They are in fact quite good at climbing, but are timid and usually come out at night to forage so seeing one in the daytime is quite rare (and often means they are in distress.)
Sonic wasn’t going anywhere when he was found. Wire cutters were gently put in place to free him. You’ll notice the use of gloves, this is to protect my hands but also the hedgehog. These creatures are very sensitive to deisese from humans, so gloves are essencial to esnure no transmission.
Sonic, now freed from the fence, it was time to check him for any injuries. As you can see, aside from being stuck no obvious injury. With this in mind, the best thing was to take him to his new home and leave him alone.
Before he could be placed in the Hedgehog Hotel, a quick orientation of his new residence was in order. Then time to place him into one of the custom burrows we have on the estate for the hedgehogs. We left him there and went to check on him the next day. No sign he was there, which is good (but no tip left for me, rude.) He had obviously checked out in the night to go look for the buffet.
Should you find a hedgehog by the highway here on Sao Miguel or at the side of a road, please call +351 919 076 779 and I will come and collect.
Please note the following:
– Hedgehogs are an endangered and wild species in the Azores, they are NOT pets!
– Collecting or keeping hedgehogs is illegal and should only be done in emergency circumstances or done by professionals
– Their spikes are not only sharp, but are also fragile. If you have to pick one up please do so as carefully as possible and only as a last resort
– Do not leave food out for them. While a small (and shallow) bowl of water is appreciated, feeding them dog or cat food should not be encouraged