On 25 November 2024 we had the pleasure of a talk all about hedgehogs from Julia Malloch, volunteer for education at Prickly Edge Rescue Centre, Methley.
Rotary charitable endeavours and grants used to be concentrated on six ‘Areas of Focus’, namely peacebuilding and conflict prevention; basic education and literacy, disease prevention and treatment; water sanitation and hygiene; community and economic development, maternal and child health. Last year the Rotary Foundation and Rotary International approved adding a new area of focus: supporting the environment. Perhaps this is where the hedgehogs come in.
Whether or not hedgehogs fit within the objects of Rotary, Julia’s talk was another heart warming illustration of the power of love in motivating people to make the world a better place.
Julia told us that the hedgehog is one of nation’s most loved mammals. They and their babies, or hoglets, certainly look endearingly cute. They are not pests, but happily feed on caterpillars, beetles and bugs. They don’t bite. They have no fight or flight mechanism, and when frightened curl into a spiky ball and keep still. They come out at night and so are seldom seen.
They are exceptionally vulnerable. Although they are capable of living as long as dogs, many never reach their first birthday, victims of roadkill or disease from untreated injuries.
Julia warned that hedgehogs are becoming an endangered species. In the 1950s the UK hedgehog population was estimated to be 30 million. Today numbers have dropped to only one million. The principal reason for the decline is the increase in road traffic and the destruction of their habitat as gardens have been paved, treated with pesticides and wild places tamed.
Julia told us of a woman called Penny Moore, who feels so passionately about hedgehogs that she has devoted her life to their welfare. She set up Prickly Edge Rescue Centre in 2019, using her own funds, and it has rapidly grown to a large scale operation with hundreds of hedgehogs admitted every year. At times there can be up to 80 on site at any one time, with many more placed with volunteers in the community, all aiming to prepare the animals for return to the wild.
We were shown a slide show of the rescue centre. It is a true hedgehog hospital with two purpose built sheds: the intensive care unit and the general ward. When first admitted, a hedgehog is placed in intensive care, with an incubator to heat it up, and injected with fluids and medication if severely dehydrated and infected.
Julia told us that the work is ‘brutal’. Hours are long and it’s a seven day a week operation. The work includes delivering medication, weighing, injecting fluids, wound care such as painstakingly picking flies’ eggs off open wounds. This work may take hours for a single hedgehog. She described it as heartbreaking if, after that careful treatment, the hedgehog dies. On the other hand it is deeply rewarding if a hedgehog can move to the general ward, then responds to the nurturing by recovering sufficiently to be released. The aim is always to return the hedgehog to the wild.
Julia herself started as a volunteer cleaning out cages once a week, and progressed to doing more and more. She is now heavily involved in fund raising, necessary because of the constant need for
funds for vets bills, electricity and food. We were pleased to hear that one of the Rescue Centre’s sponsors is the estimable firm Morley Glass, friends of our Club, which provided funds to purchase a gazebo used by Julia at events to educate the public about the plight of hedgehogs. Children in particular are fascinated, and Julia showed us some beautifully produced child friendly information packs.
Julia did not waste the opportunity to educate us about hedgehogs, with a comprehensive list of do’s and don’ts, and myth busters. Space does not permit me to set them out, but readers are urged to save old newspapers for use as hedgehog bedding, and to have a look at the website
https://pricklyedgehedgehogrescue.wordpress.com