Hog Many Every Day For Lowton’s Irene By Gerard Lees
O
ne of our gentlest creatures, the humble hedgehog is under threat from modern living but Irene is fighting back with her care for the prickly characters. The Lowton, Warrington resident has turned over her back garden - and a large part of her life - to mend injured and sick victims of cars, builders, gardeners and the inability to find food. The rear of her neat and orderly semi-detached is turned over to sheds and hutches that are mini hospitals and recuperation areas for the charming but shy spiky mammals that are brought to her from all parts of South Lancashire, North Cheshire and Merseyside. “It all started about ten years ago when we lived in a different house on the estate. My neighbour called in and said he had a hedgehog in his garage and wasn’t sure what to do with it. I didn’t either but went round, picked it up and put it in a box for safety. I went on the internet, found a rescue in Warrington and took the hedgehog there. Fascinated by the lady’s knowledge and treatment of the creature, I left the property as a volunteer!”
Did you know that hedgehogs are very much nocturnal creatures and if you see one moving around during the day there is probably something wrong with it? Did you also know that a typical hog can walk up to two miles at night and needs around ten gardens to find the beetles, insects, worms and pet food it needs for survival? Or that each one has up to 7,000 spines? NO? IRENE THOMSON DOES. 160
LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE
Irene became a fosterer and for two years collected and looked after sick hogs. Due to age and health problems, the original rescue owner had to finish caring, and, in a nutshell, Irene took over after a period of training and education, culminating in a course at Vale Wildlife Hospital in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. She has followed this up with courses sponsored by the RSPCA and British Hedgehog Protection Society. The ‘phone goes and in her efficient style, she pauses the interview. “Another patient,” she says and dashes off to the front gate to collect the animal. Back in the shed she www.lancmag.com
