Hog Many Every Day For Lowton’s Irene

By Gerard Lees

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.

One 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!”

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

hands me the clearly underweight (or is it a baby?) hog wrapped in a pink towel, while she prepares her mini triage. Within three minutes, the patient is examined, cleaned, injected with rehydration fluids and given some sustenance, before its weight is taken and recorded and being put in a covered plastic box. Above him, in a glass-fronted incubator a bigger specimen chomps away at some cat biscuits before curling up on a shredded newspaper bed.

The ‘phone goes again and she arranges for a volunteer to pick up a sick animal later that day.

Irene explains that though now retired, her thirty year career as an office manager for a large firm of surveyors and land planners probably helps her organise the rescue and its hectic day to day running.

“It’s a full time job,” says Irene. “In total, I suppose it takes up twelve to fifteen hours a day - every day.” She has nearly thirty volunteers who collect, clean and then foster but Covid has had an impact. Hubby, Mr Thomson? “We met through dancing and had a common interest in motor bikes, but don’t have much time for either, these days. He just lets me get on with it,” she smiles.

The rescue actually has room, cages and hutches for 32 hogs but in December had 45 on site! So the aim is to get the animal back to its natural habitat. When an animal arrives Irene does immediate treatment and refers to a vet if necessary, for e.g X-rays, deep wound cleans or dental care. Then, when it is well enough for the next stage, it goes to a fosterer who reports back to Irene on the animal’s progress and weight gain. When it is right to do so the hedgehog is put back into its natural environment.

Female hogs have two litters per annum, usually with four to five hoglets in each. They are deaf and blind at birth, and, surprisingly, have white spines, but normally become independent at about six weeks. There is some evidence that this litter number might be increasing due to climate change.

The costs of the project are significant. units and incubators comes out of my household bill but there are the costs of equipment such as syringes and gloves, medications and food, petrol, and, of course, vets’ fees which outweigh everything else. I have to have a microscope to examine the hedgehogs’ poo, as virtually everyone of them arrives suffering from internal parasites. I have brilliant vets in Lowton who don’t charge for consultations or the sad cases of euthanasia. I then get 10% off all other treatment.” She gets voluntary contributions from people but no official funding. The rescue hasn’t got charitable status as its ‘annual total of donated funds’ isn’t big enough but gifts can be made via the links below.

There are seventeen species of hedgehogs worldwide, with Britain hosting the west European type. Unfortunately, they are in decline - one estimate puts the decrease at two thirds in the last fifteen years - and the losses must be arrested. The growth of housing and the loss of land is causing a reduction in natural habitat. They are becoming more urban but people need to allow them to get into gardens.

“We need to create holes or gaps in our fences and gates to have a Hedgehog Highway where the animal can move around at night and forage for worms and other sustenance and find a mate during the breeding season. They can thrive on cat and dog food and clean water if it’s accessible.”

As I leave, a donation of cat food arrives, a welcome addition to the stock of materials needed to keep the rescue going.

Irene can be contacted on: 07950 933410

Donations can be made via: www.paypal.com/paypalme/ lowtonhedgehogrescue