Hedgehog's overnight antics caught on shop CCTV

A gift shop owner was given a fright after a prickly intruder caused mischief overnight.

Rachel Eaton, from Curiosity Swanage, said she thought something "a little bit freaky" was going on when items mysteriously started moving and breaking in the shop's outside yard at the start of the week.

But after checking the shop's CCTV, the team spotted a hedgehog dangling from a hanging basket and the mystery was solved.

The young animal was safely collected by the team on Wednesday and passed on to Dorset Hedgehog Rescue.

Eaton said CCTV from Monday night showed a Buddha statue appearing to move on its own.

The following evening, the hedgehog was captured climbing a large wooden beam before falling into a hanging basket and eventually dropping to the floor.

Eaton believes the animal had become stuck in the yard, which is locked overnight.

She said the team "thought it was funny" and had been "cooing" over their little customer.

Jim Dunne, who has run Dorset Hedgehog Rescue for 13 years, said he had never seen such an "adventurous hedgehog" before.

He said hedgehogs have "poor eyesight" and rely on their sense of smell and hearing to get around, meaning they tend to "blunder into things".

"If they can get themselves into trouble they will," Dunne laughed.

He said the rescue centre kept the young female, nicknamed "Ghost", overnight on Wednesday before releasing her back into the wild in Dorchester on Thursday.