'Check before you chop' urge hedgehog rescuers

People are being urged to "check before you chop" when cutting their hedges and when moving sheds during the warmer months because of the risks to hedgehogs.

The Jersey Hedgehog Preservation Group (JHPG) said it had been caring for baby hedgehogs with injuries caused by hedge strimming equipment and the Guernsey Hedgehog Rescue Centre (GHRC) said it had been caring for babies orphaned because of sheds being moved.

In March, both groups expressed concern after reporting the number of hedgehogs across the islands as plummeting.

JHPG's campaign officer Gill Morgan said the group had only seen nine hedgehogs this year and some had arrived with injuries to their noses.

She said: "Hedgehogs nest under hedges, which is why they are called hedgehogs, in compost heaps, in twig piles, in long grass and in pampas grass.

"Most of the hedgehogs injured by strimmers sustain nose injuries, which are extremely difficult to heal.

"The hedgehog relies on its sense of smell and hearing to find food in the wild and without the ability to use those senses they cannot survive."

GHRC's Dawn Robin said hedgehogs also nested under sheds and asked islanders to not move them until winter.

Robin said she had already hand raised up to 10 babies this year because of people moving their sheds and scaring the mothers away.

She also advised people to leave water out for the hedgehogs in the heat.

Morgan added that the islands could not "afford to lose any more through careless actions".

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