Yesterday morning we received a call from a contractor on a building site near Sandbanks. He had found a juvenile hedgehog, which had fallen into an open basement and had possibly been down there all night.
He popped the hedgehog into a bucket and on arrival with us we found he had some extensive bruising, but luckily no broken bones.
He is a juvenile male and we have named him “John” after the finder. He appears to have landed on his back, as some of his spike tips were snapped off and his claws are all worn down from his frantic efforts to climb out. His feet have blisters on the pads and the toes on his front feet are pretty sore. He was also dehydrated, so his wounds were cleaned and he was given sub-cutaneous fluids.
Overnight he has eaten well and had a drink of water and although a little stiff from the bruising, he seems none the worse for his ordeal.
Thank you to John of J. A. EVANS CARPENTRY for doing the right thing in helping this young hedgehog. We’ve had some awful experiences with builders and gardeners/tree surgeons in relation to hedgehogs, so we are always pleased to give a public “thank you” to those who put the animals needs first and get them the help they need.
Thanks also to Sarah Fairman, one of the Wildlife in Need volunteers for collecting the hedgehog for us.
