17 - Hedgehog Heroes

The discovery of a small hedgehog just before Christmas 2009 began Brandon resident Karen O’Neill’s mission to rescue this much loved endangered species. 12 years on and work has just finished on a purpose built Hedgehog Hospital in Karen’s garden. After discovering her original Hedgehog, Karen started off volunteering in Ipswich where she gained valuable experience. In 2015 she attended a hedgehog course at the Vale Wildlife Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre and carried on volunteering at other rescues to gain more experience. Karen says that hedgehogs are amazing little creatures, they all have their own individual characters. She has found that hedgehogs don’t show pain unless it is severe, they don’t come out in the daytime unless they are on their last legs or are on a mission, such as nursing mums looking for food. The hospital was opened in March this year, after 10 years of fundraising by Karen and the community. The fundraising team held raffles, craft stalls, car boot sales and created unique hedgehog items to sell in the local area. Karen is always in need of old newspapers and wet food as a hedgehog can eat as much as a Jack Russell dog. It costs around £5,000 per year on top of donations to run the hospital. When it comes to feeding her patients, Karen can get through 40 cat food pouches and 5 mother and baby cat food tins a night. There are drop off points for donations in Brandon, Thetford, Mildenhall and Fornham St Martin.

“I’ve got a wonderful community who have come together on my Facebook page,” Karen said, “they’ve been very supportive and are ready to help if I ask. It’s enabled me to devote more time to helping the hedgehogs. The volunteers are learning more about hedgehog care whilst they help too.” Karen says that she wouldn’t have coped this year without the support she’s had from her supporters and the wider community, “I love the people on my Facebook page, they are so friendly and caring.” Mid September saw 54 Hedgehogs in the hospital, although the numbers can change very quickly. The past two years have seen Karen at her busiest throughout the year, “Due to climate change we don’t seem to get a break these days, it used to be quieter in March and April once the Hedgehogs were released. Now I’m hearing of babies being born in January. This was unheard of. If the weather turns really cold, mum will go off and hibernate and the babies will be left behind.”

Summer 2021 has brought more small hedgehogs to Karen’s doors than usual. The smallest at 34g had to be hand reared, Karen calls them her miracle babies. “I’ve turned round some babies who are in terrible condition, it makes me feel really euphoric when this happens. It’s very rewarding once they start to pick up and recover.” Hedgehogs are usually returned to the people who brought them in for release once they have recovered or have grown big enough to survive outdoors. Karen always gives advice and makes sure a prospective release site is suitable. Sadly not all Hedgehogs make it and Karen feels a huge sense of loss each time, saying that it is heart breaking if they don’t make it. This year she has seen lots of leg injuries, these are caused by garden strimmer’s, rat traps, people using hedgehogs as footballs or hedgehogs getting their legs trapped. Four hedgehogs in Karen’s care had to have amputations. Karen works closely with Sue Stubley from Ousden Hedgehog Hospital and together they are working on a project to microchip the hedgehogs in their care so they can monitor if they return to Please mention the About Thetford Magazine when responding to advertisements 16

either hospital at any time. “I’ve learnt a lot from Sue, she’s brilliant with worms and is my go-to if I get a hedgehog in that needs more help than I can give it.” There’s a huge problem with hedgehog food being unregulated, much of the products marked as Hedgehog food is not suitable and can cause health problems. Hedgehogs should not be fed meal worms, sunflower hearts, peanuts, dried fruit and calci worms. Slugs and snails can cause worm burdens and shouldn’t be given. Karen recommends dry cat or dog food, the best option being dried kitten or puppy food. She also warns against marking hedgehogs. The markings can be picked up on night cameras which also means they can be picked up by predators. If you find a hedgehog with fleas and ticks, you must contact a rescue immediately as this is often a sign that the hedgehog has a hidden health problem such a worm burden and needs specialist help. However, if you see a hedgehog out during the day and it looks like it’s on a mission – walking with intent and in good shape, leave them alone. If you find a collapsed hedgehog, put some gloves on and pick it up, place it in a high sided box with an old towel to cover it and contact your local rescue centre. Keep the box inside to prevent flies from laying eggs on them. Place the box away from pets in a quiet area. Hedgehog fleas are specific to that species and won’t feed on humans, cats or

One of Karen’s miracle babies that she’s nursed back to health - this includes two hourly feeds

dogs. If you can see small cream-coloured flecks similar to rice the hedgehog is suffering from flystrike and needs medical attention before the maggots hatch. Karen is now fundraising for some additional blinds for the hospital and has a wish list for donations on Amazon. Karen also needs a refuse sponsor.

For More Information:

To find out more, visit ‘Karen’s Hedgehogspital’ on Facebook. The Amazon Wishlist for the Hospital is: https://amzn.to/3ADLVP6

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