Fears for flooded hedgehogs
Photo: Folly Wildlife Trust

WITH thousands of people suffering from the effects of flood damage - many of them in east and south Yorkshire - and appeal has gone out pleading with non-affected people to remember that wildlife will also have suffered badly in the deluge.

In particular, slow-moving hedgehogs will have been hard-hit in flood areas, being too slow to escape rising waters. And this could not have come at a worse time of the year because thousands of baby hedgehogs may have been swept from their nests and are struggling to survive alone.

The British Hedgehog Protection Society appealed for people to keep a special lookout for these youngsters, saying: "If a hedgehog is out during the day and is wobbling as he walks, has flies around him or just lay out, there is a problem and he needs immediate help.

"He will probably be hypothermic so he should be collected up using gardening gloves, put into a cardboard box with a well wrapped hot water bottle underneath him and an old towel or t-shirt for him to snuggle into, the bottle will need changing often as if allowed to go cold it will undo all the good it has done by drawing heat away from the hedgehog.

"Meat based pet food and water can be offered, then call the British Hedgehog Preservation Society on 01584 890 801 or see their website www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk for advice and the number of a local hedgehog rehabilitator."