Two Hour Rescue Mission to Save Hedgehog.
An unusual rescue mission took place last night to save the life of a trapped hedgehog in Rottingdean, East Sussex.
Volunteer rescuers Trevor Weeks MBE and his partner Kathy Martyn from East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service (WRAS) were called out to a basement flat in Rottingdean village to help save the life of a trapped hedgehog.
For the past three nights a hedgehogs had become trapped in a walled patio after falling down an embankment and retaining wall. To make matters worse the hedgehogs decided to take up residence in a drainage pipe at the bottom of the wall. For two nights the local residents noticed the hedgehogs but every time they tried to catch it the hedgehog would run back into the pipe before they could get close enough.
“There was quite a bit of dust, dirt and rubble which the hedgehog had managed to dig out from the end of the pipe and deposit on the patio. It was almost as if he was trying to dig his way out. It would have been impossible for the hedgehogs to get out as the surrounding wall was over 5ft tall. The residence put out water and cat food to help sustain the hedgehog but were desperate for someone to save their prickly lodger” said Kathy.
Kathy and Trevor decided the only way to rescue the hedgehog would be to sit on the top of the wall and just wait it out. “It was not exactly warm, so we got ourselves a little picnic of food and coffee and positioned ourselves on top of the wall above the pipe exit and sat and waited for it to get dark” said Trevor.
Rescuers used a childrens night vision scope to watch for the hedgehog (Video link attached) and waited for the hedgehog to emerge.
“We could hear the hedgehogs inside the pipe and he munched on a small piece of cat food we placed inside the pipe to encourage her out. She coughed a few times which worried us as it sounded very much like a lung worm parasite cough. So we did not want to give up on her, and very much felt we had to rescue her to save her life” added Kathy.
Over an hour later rescuers saw the hedgehog for the first time as it poked her head out of the pipe and sniffed round. “We had placed a couple of bit of food slightly further away from the pipe and then a dish of food even further away. As hedgehogs can run quite fast, we wanted to make sure the hedgehogs was far enough away from the pipe so that a net could be dropped down to cover the pipe to stop her escaping and hiding back in the pipe” said Kathy.
Using the night scope Kathy whispered instructions to Trevor who was waiting on the wall to drop the net down. Eventually the hedgehog moved away from the hole to the dish, giving Trevor the perfect opportunity to spring into action. As soon as the pipe was blocked, Kathy jumped down off the wall to pick up the hedgehog.
Once in the light of the flat, Trevor and Kathy were then able to check the hedgehog over and noticed how short her toe nails were from all the digging. The hedgehog was checked over and then taken back to WRAS’s Casualty Care Centre at Whitesmith.
“Amazingly this hedgehogs had the remains of tipex marks on her spines which have previously been used to mark hedgehogs whilst in care, and we are sure this is one which has been in care with WRAS previously.” Said Kathy.
The hedgehog is now in care and being treated for lungworm and is expected to be released back in Rottingdean in 3-4 weeks time once treatment has finished.
“This was certainly an unusual rescue, and my legs ached from sitting so still on the bank on top of the wall, and it wasn’t the warmest of evening too! But we know that if we didn’t do this the poor hedgehog would probably be stuck for ages and we didn’t want it to die in the pipe or get stuck after digging away in the wall. I am so glad we rescued her and she is now safe” said Trevor.
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