Hedgehog found caught in trap on Archenfield Road

A hedgehog was found with its front foot caught in a trap on Archenfield Road yesterday.

The hedgehog was in shock and is dehydrated but is now being well looked after by a local hedgehog carer.

A spokesperson for Ross-on-Wye Hedgehog Care and Advice said: “We do not know who set the trap or how long the hedgehog had been caught in it.

“Please do not use these or any similar traps. Despite what the manufacturers claim, these traps are not humane, nor are they safe for pets and, as this shows, it is all too easy for innocent wildlife to be caught. The consequences for this hedgehog could easily have been much much worse.”

This week is Hedgehog Awareness Week which aims to raise the profile of the Britain’s only spiny mammal. This year the British Hedgehog Preservation Society is asking people create their very own hedgehog haven! Gardens are a stronghold for hedgehogs, and we can make their lives so much easier with very little effort.

There are many things we can all do to help hedgehogs; here are just a few:

• Make sure hedgehogs can access your garden with a ‘Hedgehog Highway’ a 5” x 5” (13 x 13cm) square gap in the bottom of fences or walls should do it! Once created you can log these on the BIG Hedgehog Map at www.bighedgehogmap.org

• Create a log pile that will offer shelter and natural food.

• Build a Hedgehog Home (see plans at www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/hedgehog-homes).

• Move piles of rubbish to a new site on the day you are burning it and check it carefully before setting light to it, lighting from only one side so that there’s an escape route should you have missed anything.

• Check areas carefully before mowing or strimming.

• Ensure netting is kept at a height that allows hedgehogs to pass safely under it.

• Check compost heaps carefully before digging the fork in.

• Stop using pesticides and poisons.

• Cover drains or deep holes.

• Ensure there is an easy route out of ponds & pools.