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On the 13th of July a very young hedgehog was brought to
the Centre.
The lady who found him told us that he was found at the
bottom of a steep bank and was very cold. He was no bigger than a golf
ball and weighed just under 100gms.
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His little mouth was so small that it took the smallest
pipette we had to get food into him. As soon as the milk touched his
mouth his instinct kicked in and he began licking as much as his little
stomach could hold.
It was decided he would be called ‘Brambles’. A week
passed by and still Brambles struggled on. Then on 18th July, a knock
on the door brought with it a second baby hedgehog.
A couple had found their dog with the tiny baby in its
mouth. After a short struggle they had finally managed to free the baby
from the dogs’ jaws.
The baby was examined thoroughly. Worryingly a small
puncture wound on her back was found and it seemed she was unable to
use her back legs properly. Her wound was treated and she was immediately
rushed in under the heat along with Brambles.
Soon her legs began working again! As she was so small
the name ‘Tiddles’ was chosen. This proved to be a contradiction as,
over the next few weeks, Tiddles grew and put on weight much faster
than Brambles until she was nearly double the size.
Eventually,
Brambles caught up with Tiddles. It was with great relief that we
looked at the scales to see that both hedgehogs weighed over 600gms.
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It was Time!!!!
Yes! The day had come and the plans to find a safe
release site for both Brambles and Tiddles were put into action.
We were keen to allow some local school children to be
involved with the release and thus contacted St. Comgall’s Primary
School in Antrim.
Rosie, our Community Development Officer visited the
school to give a talk about hedgehogs and their natural environment,
which included highlighting the different ways in which we can all
help.
The 2
classes involved, Mr Coey, P5 (above), and Mrs Devine, P5 (below), were
so excited when they heard the hedgehogs were going to stay with them
for the following week - the whole event had been kept as a surprise.
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On Monday the 3rd October, the 2 classes gathered in the
Castle Grounds in Antrim, along with Rosie & Debbie Nelson
(Education Work Leader at T.A.C.T.), Ruth Wilson (Biodiversity Officer
for Antrim Borough Council), Gary Shaw (Cultural Services Manager for
Antrim Borough Council) and Vanessa & Nigel Reavey from Happy
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Hedgehogs, who assisted us in finding the most suitable
area for release.
Gary Shaw was keen to encourage population growth of all
native wildlife on the site so Vanessa and Nigel suggested releasing 2
of their young hedgehogs in conjunction with ours.
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The children have been checking regularly on the
hedgehogs and they are healthy and doing well.
Thank you to the Antrim Borough
Council for all their help and support with this release and to St.
Comgall’s Primary School for taking such good care of the hedgehogs.
‘Hi,
Lucky here. Did you know?’
Baby hedgehogs
are called ‘Hoglets’
A Hedgehog
only lives for 5-6yrs
The bulk of a
hedgehog’s diet is made up of Slugs, Snails and Earthworms. Although they
will also eat birds eggs and even chicks!!!
A hedgehog can
have over 5,000 spines on its body and the rest is covered with dark
thick hairs.
Hedgehogs’
spines are made from the same substance as our hair and finger nails.
A hedgehog’s
biggest enemies, next to humans, are Badgers and Foxes.
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