A baby hedgehog had to be rescued on 10 August after being found stuck in a Christmas Bauble at Isfield in East Sussex.

Volunteer rescuers from East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service (WRAS) were called out by staff at the Laughing Fish Pub after discovering a baby hedgehog in distress. "The call was received at 10:30am and the caller reported finding a small hedgehog with a piece of plastic stuck on its back and clearly in distress" said Trevor Weeks MBE founder of East Sussex WRAS.

An ambulance was on site within 30 minutes, where rescuer then assessed the hedgehog's condition. "At first it looked like there was a crab apple of something stuck on the hedgehog's spines, but on closer inspection you could see it was plastic and attached. Trevor and I soon found that the object was a Christmas bauble with a hanging loop for attaching to Christmas trees, which was caught around her body." explained Kathy Martyn, WRAS rescuer and carer.

The loop of the bauble went across the back and under her belly and was embedded into the body through various scabs and wounds. "You could smell the infection and obviously the hedgehog had got her head and left leg through the loop when she was much smaller and as she had grown the loop became more and more tight. This would have eventually killed the baby hedgehog if it had been left, so was extremely lucky to have been found and saved thanks to the observant staff at the Laughing Fish Pub" said Trevor.

Trevor and Kathy rushed the 186 gram hedgehog to Henley House Vets in Uckfield where Veterinary Nurse Jenny Pike RVN and Vet Chris Hall MRCVS attended to the her. She was given an general anaesthetic in order to clean and treat her wounds better. "I have never seen such an unusual cause of a ligature wound and pressure necrosis on a wild animal before. We see similar wounds caused by elastic bands, snares and netting but not caused by a Christmas bauble before" added Trevor.

The hedgehog now named "Izzy" after being found at Isfield, has been admitted to WRAS's Casualty Care Centre at Whitesmith, "Izzy will need daily monitoring and her wounds cleaning. Luckily there is already granulation tissue developing. We just hope she is strong enough to survive the treatment and that we can get on top of the infection" added Kathy.

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Press Contact: Trevor Weeks MBE (East Sussex WRAS) - 07931 523958

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