Rescuers were horrified to be called out to a hedgehog which had been rescued by local residents after being used as football by local youths in the children's playground at Victoria Gardens in Eastbourne.
Rescuer Tony Neads from East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service (WRAS) attended on site to pick up the hedgehog after WRAS received the call. "The poor little girl was very frightened and had a number of broken and bent prickles over her body as a result of being kicked, so I rushed the hedgehog up to our Casualty Centre for further assessment" said Tony.
Local residents witnessed the attack which occurred during the evening of 2nd September 2013.
"We have named her "Victoria" and she has been medicated and bedded down at our Centre and is going to be x-rayed by one of our vets tomorrow (4th Sept) as a precaution. We think she has been very lucky and only suffered severe bruising" said Trevor Weeks MBE the manager of WRAS's Casualty Care Centre.
"Victoria" is thought to be about 5-6 weeks old and weighs about 250 grams. "At this age the youngsters bones are still quite rubbery so we are hoping that Victoria has had a lucky escape, the X-ray will tell us more" added Trevor.
WRAS is shocked and appalled by the incident and has informed Sussex Police and hopes that they will be investigating the incident further. Anyone who witnessed the event is asked to contact Sussex Police and quoting reference 827 of 3rd September 2013.
UPDATE (4 September 2013)
Victoria the Hedgehog has a fractured left Fibula, as seen on an X-ray taken at Henley House Vets in Uckfield today. "I am surprised that she has suffered this fracture and clearly must have been kicked quite hard in order to have fractured this bone", said Trevor.
Victoria is now back at WRAS's Casualty Care Centre but will take about 3 weeks to recover, but may have to be kept in for long to ensure she is big enough to cope with any early cold autumn and winter weather.
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Press Contact: Trevor Weeks MBE (East Sussex WRAS) - 07931 523958
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