It all started with one little hedgehog, found out in the cold one winter, with snow forecast to come. I took it in, and through the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS, britishhedgehogs.org.uk), I located a lady to care for it. The next couple of winters the same thing happened, but I started to want to know more about how to look after them myself. The following year, I joined forces with two friends (one had been trained at Vale Wildlife Hospital) and after some hard work, Hundon Hedgehog Rescue came into being. It is now in its seventh year, with six of us involved.
At Hundon, we take in small, underweight, sick and injured hedgehogs — in fact, any hedgehog found in difficulties in our area, which spans (along with several other similar rescues) West Suffolk, North Essex and South Cambridgeshire. We are on the BHPS list, so if people call them, the BHPS put them in touch with us or other rescue centres. We also take hedgehogs in from eight local vets, if they are ever brought in to them, along with the local RSPCA. Since we are well known in the area, hedgehogs are often brought in to us by people that know us and what we do. Thanks to our local vets, we hold the medication we need to tend to the bulk of hedgehogs in our care. Any we cannot treat ourselves, or that we have concerns about, go to our vets for treatment. We are also able to carry out sampling on hedgehog faeces, which provides us with information of internal problems we need to treat. We also conduct talks, visit schools and try and educate people about hedgehogs and wildlife, generally. Hedgehogs are well looked after at Hundon — we have a dedicated shed (heated in the winter) that is fitted out with sizeable enclosures and two incubators.